


Mechanical Heart, Real Love.

by CrazinessJoy_SweetSunshineGirl



Series: The Gears Of Love. [2]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's, Tina-Sapphire
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-07-27 21:15:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 39,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16227467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazinessJoy_SweetSunshineGirl/pseuds/CrazinessJoy_SweetSunshineGirl
Summary: Mike wasn't sure what he was thinking when he signed up to join Freddy Fazbear's, the night shift. Guards getting killed? Child-friendly androids that aren't adult-friendly? Androids that attack and kill? On top of all that, Mike has his personal life to deal with, along with his trickster cousin. And his coworkers aren't exactly the best. At least things can't get worse... until a plastic cupcake named Carl gets involved. Will Mike eventually end up as the lucky one in love? Or will he end up in a coffin?





	1. Mechanical Heart, Real Love. -1-

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Don't Go Chasing Rabbits](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/422714) by Falling-Into-Blue. 



"Hey, papa?" Mike looked up from the paper. Ronnie was scurrying over to him and looked pretty curious.

"What's up, kiddo?" He asked, setting the newspaper aside. The news could wait. He didn't even need to worry about what was going on in there, anyway. Ronnie had reached Mike and was currently invading his personal space.

"How was I made?" Ronnie asked, causing Mike to sigh. That had been at least the four hundredth time he asked today. No joke. Running his hands through his hair, Mike answered, saying the same thing he had been saying throughout the day.

"Your father and I met, got married, your father knocked me up, I gave birth, then voila. You were born." Mike muttered, his voice tired. At first, he had been a bit perplexed when Ronnie asked him the first time. But now he was annoyed. Ronnie nodded, then looked around, trying to find something else to ask about.

"Oh! Why do you always read the newspaper, papa?" Ronnie asked. He was clearly bored and was hoping his father could entertain him.

"It's a habit. I used to read the paper every morning back when I was still human." Mike replied, suspicious. Recently, Ronnie had been asking him this and that, anything that was about his former life. It was not only weird, but it was also scary.

"Papa? You always tell me that you and dad 'met'. You never tell me how." Ronnie piped. Mike groaned. Today had been awfully busy, so all he wanted now was R&R. Unfortunately, he had to learn the hard way that things would never go his way until Ronnie was satisfied.

"Why don't you go ask your dad? My shoulders are killing me." He complained. Ronnie shrugged. Apparently, he had been expecting that question.

"I tried. Dad told me to go ask you."

"And why is that?"

"Because he was practicing, and didn't want to be disturbed."

"WHAT?!" Mike was outraged. Bonnie had more stamina than Mike did, and he knew that. He also knew that Mike was tired because the restaurant had been ridiculously packed today. And he had the NERVE to tell Ronnie to ask Mike just because HE was PRACTICING?!

"That ungrateful rabbit!" Mike hissed quietly through clenched teeth, so Ronnie couldn't hear. When his shoulders were better, that bunny was so in for it.

Rubbing his face, Mike decided that it be better to can his anger, for now, so he could use it when he was done speaking with Ronnie.

"So, you want to know how your father and I 'met'?" Mike drawled out slowly. He was worried that if he had said that faster, his anger might escape. Ronnie nodded.

"And about what life was like for you when you were human!" Ronnie cooed, glad that his father was complying with his wishes. Usually, his papa would just shoo him away. With a sigh, Mike told Ronnie to get comfortable, because this was gonna take a while.

"Well Ronnie, you see, it was a crisp, clear evening. The sun was setting. All around, businesses were closing. People were driving home from work, well, except for one. Me. Instead of trying to get home, I was trying to get to my job. Panting, I raced as fast as I could, but as I made a mad dash, my mind only half-focused...

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shit shit shit shit shit! Words somewhere along that line was playing through my mind as I hurried to my workplace, in the brisk night air. The first day of work, and I'm late! Who does that?!

Yup. The first day, or evening, I should say, and I was late. By somewhere around twenty, no thirty minutes. Okay, possibly forty. Maybe it was my fault I forgot to set my alarm clock and overslept. Maybe. But it wasn't my fault entirely. I had a day job, where I ran around in a uniform delivering food to families with their screaming children. Yup. A different kiddy fast food restaurant. My looks were constantly a mess due to being unable to get through one shift without an accident. It became habitual not to take care of my looks, which was why I forgot to tidy up before I took off from my apartment.

(What? C'mon, Ronnie, you've seen my pictures. The lighting made the colors look off? Ronnie, you-! Fine. You win. My hair wasn't always silver. It used to be brown, like your used to. My hair used to be a bit longer than it is now. My height never changed. I was also more skin and bones back in those days. Your Dad still insists that it was unhealthy. Now, back to the story, okay?)

I ran as fast as my short legs could carry me. There it was. In front of me. My new workplace. Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria! Well, my second new workplace. I did not quit my other one. Anyway, this wasn't actually my first day of work. More like a 'hey let's introduce you to your new coworkers' thing. Yeah. Bad impression on my coworkers. Horrible one.

Nearing the building, I accelerated and burst through the doors! Then I tripped. And fell. The girl who stood by the counter looked at me like I was insane. I stared right back at her. If I remember correctly, there was a pretty awkward silence between us.

"Uh... can... can I help you, sir...?" From her expression, she probably thought I was a madman, as any sensible person would when some random guy hurls himself through the doors of a kiddy fast food place. Yes, I hurled myself in. Don't laugh. That's how I tripped.

I scrambled to get up. I'm pretty sure I tripped over my own foot in the process. Not really sure if that was why, but I fell again. Kinda embarrassing. The girl giggled as she came from around the counter. She stuck her hand out to me.

"Need some help, klutzy?" She teased. KLUTZY?!?! Okay, now I'm offended, was what ran through my head when I heard her. Ignoring her outstretched hand, I got up, without falling this time, I shook my head. I was too tired to glare. Or stay mad.

"Look, today's just one of those days, okay?" I sighed, followed by a yawn. She giggled again. I shot her a tired glare. Then I yawned again.

I muttered something, something like: "I'm here to see the manager. I just got hired and was told to come here, but I'm thirty- hold up- forty-three minutes late. So..." I sort of waved my hand around a bit, trying to, I guess, make her understand. She just giggled again.

She smiled, as she walked off. She told me to wait, and that she was gonna fetch the manager. Halfway there, she turned around and hollered out to me. She said something about my hair. But I know for a fact she said it was messy.

"By the way, your hair is super messy!" Well, it was something along those lines. I sighed as I ran my hair through my tousled hair. Thanks so much for pointing out the obvious! I thought to myself. Then the door opened behind me. I turned around. At first, what I saw was just the bottom half of somebody's chest. I had to tilt my head up to see their face. It was a punk-looking guy. Piercings, one side shaved hair, no shit expression, and a slight slouch. Plus super long legs.

The tall guy looked down at me. He looked me over for a few minutes before he said: "Ya lost, kiddo?"

Out of all the rude things people had called me, that was the rudest. A kid! HE CALLED ME A KID! Dude. Just. DUDE. I scowled at him. (He told me a while later that my face had turned red, as I was scowling. As if.) Then I narrowed my eyes. I considered sticking out my tongue, but doing so wouldn't be that mature. Instead, I turned around, stepped out of his way, and ignored him. Rather than walking on by and minding his business, he stepped to the side, standing next to me. He seemed to be looking me over. I glared at him, rather tiredly.

Couple a minutes later, I was about to tell him off for staring at me, when the girl came bounding into view. She totally ignored the guy and smiled straight at me.

"Hey, sweets! The manager said you just need to meet up with your coworkers. They're running late though. The one next to you is Fritz. He's one of them." She cooed, grinning like the cat who ate the canary. Before I could respond, the punk guy beat me to it.

"Wait a sec, you're an adult? What a shorty." He said. I glared at him some more. Some people had absolutely no decency. Or politeness. I knew right off the bat that I wasn't going to like him if he kept up his rude, ill-mannered attitude. The girl giggled. I looked back at her and finally started to take in her appearance. A redhead, with lavender eyes that glittered with mischief, a lavender hair clip, and a mint scarf. Other than that, she was wearing what seemed to be the typical Freddy Fazbear's uniform. 

I used to wonder how she got her eyes to be lavender. Colored contact lenses, she had told me once. They're kinda expensive but worth it. To this day, I still wonder how she was able to afford it. The pay here was crap. Barely enough to pay the bills for a cheap apartment. Whenever I tried to ask her, she would giggle, and run off the other way.

"Stop teasing him, Fritz. He ain't that short. If anything, you're tall." The girl replied in a cool but calm manner. Fritz completely ignored her and motioned me to follow him as he began to walk off. Since he was my coworker, I decided I didn't really have much of a choice but to cooperate.

I scurried after him because his legs were longer than mine, he was able to move farther in one, long, stride. What I wouldn't give for legs as long as his. I never realized how short my legs are. I thought to myself, as I observed his. Seeing his makes me feel even shorter and smaller than usual. I'm jealous. (Yeah, my height used to bother me, but I stopped feeling insecure after I met your father.)

Soon, we reached a small, secluded table at the far end of the restaurant. I got into my chair and quietly sat, waiting for Fritz to say something. But he didn't. Rather, he just lazily pulled out his phone and began playing Soda Crush. Whilst I sat opposite of him, completely confused on what to do. We sat there in silence for about ten minutes before I started to get impatient.

"Excuse me?" I piped. He didn't look up, or even acknowledge me. I tried again.

"Excuse me?" I repeated. This time, he answered.

"I'm listening, kid," Fritz replied without even a glance. Rude. I had a feeling it would be pointless to get annoyed at something so small, so I just ignored it and continued talking.

"What are we waiting for? The other people who work here, right? Because from what I was told, I was supposed to meet them today." I spoke, slowly. I was getting bored and annoyed just waiting there. Fritz shrugged nonchalantly, though.

"Eh. Jeremy said he couldn't show, family matters, or something like that. Indigo called in sick. Scott... how should I put this... he's currently in the hospital because of a... well, let's call it an 'accident'." Fritz shrugged. Something about the way he said "accident" really had worried me.

"Er, about Scott, uh, what kind of accident? Car accident? Fell and hurt himself? What sort...?" I inquired, scared of what Fritz was going to say. His answer was not what I expected. Or wanted.

"Work accident," Fritz stated flatly. "Tried to warn him. His own fault. Partially." Fritz muttered the last part, but I heard it anyway. I was pretty terrified when I heard that. Work accident? Partially his own fault? Oh geez. He was my coworker. Which meant we had the same job. Which meant... the same could happen to me, whatever it was. I gulped. Fritz must've noticed my mental panic attack because he told me to 'calm the fuck down' because 'it won't happen to you as long as you do your job correctly'. Do my job correctly?! All I wanted was some extra cash because I was behind on my bills. But now? What sort of job did I sign up for?!

"Erm, so, what exactly are we waiting for then?" I asked, rather nervously. Fritz cocked a brow at me. 

"Intro." He grunted back. Oh. I looked at him, expecting him to start. (Ronnie, dear, you know what Fritz is like. And, if anything, he does not give a shit about 'introductions' and 'get to know you'.) Unfortunately, I was not aware of that at the time, so I tried to start an introduction thing.

"So... my name's Mike Schmidt. And you are Fritz...?" Usually, Fritz would just ignore the person asking him. But I was lucky. Because he got a good chuckle at my height, (that jerk!) he was in a better mood. Therefore, he just went along with it.

"Smith. Fritz Smith." Fritz replied. He went on to talk. I don't recall what he said exactly, but it was something like this: "Your shift starts at twelve tonight. Best get there ten minutes before. Your job is to simply monitor the androids who work here. There will be recordings from Scott that explain everything else. You're working alone. If the job is too much for you, then you can quit. NOT. Your contract says you have to work five nights here before you can quit. If you DIE on the job, I'll attend your funeral. If you get injured, the company will cover the fees. Any questions?" When he was done saying all that, he finally looked up. My eyes were as wide as plates.

"Die?!" Was all that I could squeak out. Lots of things had been running through my mind at the time. Because there was so much, I can't clearly recall all of what I was thinking. Some were important. Some were not. I remember thinking about funerals, headstones, organs, killers, and... mice. Yeah, don't ask about the last part.

Later on the timeline, Fritz said my eyes had made me look just like a panicking anime character, ya know when their pupils dilate. I denied it, of course. I had my dignity. Even if I had almost none at the time. I still had my dignity. (Ronnie! Quit snickering!)

"Relax, kid. Like I said, Scott's recordings will clear everything up. And, if you follow his instructions correctly, you will live to see another day. Besides, Scott's been working here for years, and I've just finished my first year, and we're still alive and breathing. Scott may be in the hospital, but he'll be fine. If you're one of those ones who are stupid enough to mess around during your shift, too bad. I trust you can get the job done, though." Fritz shrugged. I continued to gawk. Fritz told me sometime later that I was in shock.

I wasn't aware of it at the time, but apparently, he was trying to make me feel better. Yeah. As if he succeeded. Nothing he ever says is comforting, anyway.

I just nodded. At the time, I was super confused and too scared to say anything. To make things worse, my emotions were making my vision blur. Everything in my mind was all in a jumble. Everything after that was kinda fuzzy. Fritz briefly told me about the animatronics, then shooed me away, telling me to get some sleep before my shift. My shift started twenty minutes after our meeting, Fritz had said. I think I was supposed to stay until my shift started, but Fritz insisted that I went home, because according to him, I looked like shit had just run me over.

Like some sort of zombie, I went back to my apartment, sort of trance-like. I was lucky I made it back in one piece because I seriously don't remember how I got back home. Asking around did not help me find out how I got back home.

When I later asked, the girl at the counter had told me I got home by myself, but Fritz said that I had told him my address, and he drove me home. I don't remember, but it's irrelevant, anyway.

 

 

The details aren't all that clear. I do know for a fact that I ran into multiple door frames as I wandered aimlessly in my apartment. And I stumbled through my front door, half awake and half asleep. Collapsing into bed, I can't remember if all I did was just snooze or go about my business then snoozed. All I know is that I closed my eyes, woke up the next instant, my alarm was blaring and I realized it was around five minutes to my shift. Crap. Less than a minute to get dressed, then get to work. Crap. Yeah. That day, was REALLY not my day.

I barely got to work with less than a minute on the clock. Don't ask how I used to manage my former everyday life. It was horrible. To make things worse, I spent forty-five seconds trying to look for the office that I was stationed in. Fritz had told me that was where I was supposed to work and report to every shift. What he didn't say was where the office was. Really helped, Fritzy. When I FINALLY found the cramped office, I started to search for the recordings he told me about. Little did I know they were on tape. Had he told me, it would've saved me a whole CHUNK of time. At that point, it had gotten through my head that Fritz was not the helpful type. I wondered if the other guys were like that too. I really had hoped not.

"Hello? Hello? Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?" After that, the recording filled me in on what to do. Such as closing the door before the androids can get in. Why? The recording didn't say why, but it was really obvious why. (You know why, Ronnie. They used to kill the guards.) Which resulted in me freaking out. Entirely. And then kept slamming the doors shut out of paranoia and complete fear. Obviously, I just signed myself up for the worst job in the world. Why didn't I just apply to be a cashier somewhere else? Just why?

Considering how young the voice was, I had immediately assumed this "Scott" person was a young man. Then again, Fritz did say that Scott had been working here for years. So probably not. I glanced out the door again. I was becoming really scared from listening to that recording. So far so good, though. Around forty, fifty-ish minutes passed, and none of them came close, and just wandered about at safe distances.

Chica resided in her kitchen, Freddy was lingering on the stage with Bonnie, and the pirate fox seemed to stay in his cove. Smooth sailing. Since it was so calm, I decided to roll the dice and take my chances. I put the tablet down. And inspected the office. Cramped, tiny, had a weird scent in it, stains everywhere, creaky chair, some posters of the androids, and a desk. Sitting on the desk was a desk fan. And a pink, plastic... cupcake?

I stared at the cupcake. Its eyes were comically huge. And for some reason, for some reason, it seemed to be staring right back at me. ...Creepy. Weren't cupcakes supposed to be cute? Why did it have eyes, anyway? I stared at it for a few more moments, then I gave it a soft poke. It wobbled, and I didn't even prod it that hard. What was this thing?

After a bit more staring, I finally decided to return to the tablet. The whole staring and prodding ordeal took a little over half a minute. Freddy had wandered a bit but was still near the stage. Good. Chica was going down a random hall. Update: Freddy is heading over to the cove. Foxy must still be in there. Bonnie... had migrated to my window. Great. Slam! (Ronnie, this was before your father and I formally met. It took a while before we even had a proper conversation with each other.)

"Safety precaution," I told him because I didn't want to come off rude like Fritz was. Bonnie's ears twitched a little, but his gaze never faltered. He wasn't necessarily staring at me but behind me. Just to be on the safe side, I quickly glanced behind me. But saw nothing. Creeeeepy. I shuddered a little as I turned back around. Want to know what else was creepy? His gaze still lingered on me, even after I turned around, facing away from him.

 

 

Rest of the night was pretty uneventful. Well, Chica scratched the window at one point. I wasn't sure why at the time, but she later told me that she did it just to get on my nerves. It had worked. Other than that, the night was rather calm and peaceful. I was lucky that night. Apparently, they had some stuff to clear up with each other, so they did that instead of bothering me. I did have some nights that were pretty rough, but I haven't gotten there yet.

Stretching, I muffled a yawn as I checked the cameras again. Chica was chatting with Freddy, Foxy still hadn't left his cove, and Bonnie kept moving to and from my window, but never got any closer. Right now he was doing something with his guitar up on stage. Not a whole lot of my power had been drained, which was good. Like any other person, though, I let my guard down. I mean, when your shift is coming to a close and none of the androids are anywhere near you, it was only natural! But that was what I did anyway. Dropped my guard a little. Or a lot. Which was the stupidest thing I probably could've done.

I watched the cupcake occasionally wobble, and thought to myself, Is this thing haunted? How the hell is it wobbling?! This is freaking me out. I was busy trying to see why this cupcake was defying Newton's First Law of Motion. (Didn't you learn this when we homeschooled you... no? You have to pay attention when we're teaching you something! Okay, okay, I'll explain it. An object at rest/motion stays at rest/motion unless acted on upon by an unbalanced force. There.) This cupcake was clearly moving on its own, which was not possible. It was like the milk pouring into your bowl of cereal without you even putting a single finger on it. Haunted? Maybe. That was what I thought as I watched the pink pastry. (Ronnie will you stop interrupting! This was before I got to know them! No more interruptions!) But as I said before, I had let my guard down in the process of doing so.

Too busy observing the strange little cupcake, I kept asking it questions even though it did not respond. I did it over and over again. And the cupcake just kept wobbling and stopping and wobbling. Therefore, I had failed to notice someone was behind me. Someone tall. Someone unseen. Someone inhuman. Someone silent. Someone sneaky. Someone intelligent. Someone... gold.


	2. Mechanical Heart, Real Love. -2-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cupcake and Mike could be on better terms but are not. The fan seems to enjoy Mike playing around with the cupcake. Bonnie decides to hop in when Mike least wants to see him. He runs into Cinnamon and meets a new co-worker, and Cinnamon and Indigo are both friendly enough, in Mike's terms. But are they really all that they seem?

I kept poking and staring at the strange cupcake until I got this strange feeling. This feeling that I was being watched. This feeling... that I wasn't alone. This feeling that someone was behind me. It intensified, to the point of where I could no longer ignore it. I can just vaguely recall what it felt like. My hair stood on end and I also believe I got goosebumps.

Whirling around, I got ready to attack whoever was there, but, strangely, there was no one. I looked from door to door. Both were empty, as were the windows. In short, the space behind me was completely empty. I was completely alone in the office. No android sneaking around, no burglar, nothing.

(Why'd I get that feeling then? I'm going to get there later.) Then, I heard something behind me, so I immediately whirled back around to the desk. But, it was just the cupcake. Creepy cupcake. It wobbled on its own. Why did it have to mess with me like that? Looking around nervously, I cautiously picked the tablet up, to check the cameras. Let's see, Bonnie is wandering the halls, Chica is speaking with Foxy, Freddy is doing... paperwork? Wait, what? Nope, no questions. Just keep going. Uh huh. Mm-hmm. Yup. Everyone's been found, and from the looks of it, none of them are near me. So, who was that behind me? ...I guess I'll just have to figure that out later.

Flicking from camera to camera, I tried to find who was behind me. Unless it was just my paranoia taking a serious toll on me. That being said, I definitely did not think it was just my paranoia. I kept going from one camera to another until I got bored and started to stare at the cupcake. Again, I felt like it was staring right back at me. Just why did a plastic cupcake have eyes?

I poked it. It wobbled. I scooted to the right. Its eyes followed me. What was the deal with this cupcake? That's when a brilliant idea popped into my head. (Well, the cupcake didn't think it was brilliant, but his opinion does not count. Besides, the fan found it funny.)

Carefully reaching out, I gently held and picked up the cupcake so we were eye level. Then, I shook it as hard as I could. Up and down, the cupcake became a pink and brown blur. When I was done, I put him on the desk, then observed his eyes. My theory was correct! Its eyes could move! Right now, its eyes were rolling around in circles. Beside me, the fan activated, blowing cold wind in my direction. For some reason, there was a distinct sound that sounded like laughter, that was in the background of the fan's whirring.

I couldn't help but snicker at the poor cupcake's dizziness. It just looked so funny! (You would have laughed too if you saw it.) When the cupcake's eyes finally stopped swirling, it focused squarely on me. Obviously, it didn't find it as amusing as I did. I just shrugged, as I began apologizing.

"Sorry cupcake. Couldn't help it. Just wanted to see if your eyes really could move. And from the looks of it, they aren't google eyes either." I sympathetically told it. It just continued to glare at me. I waved at it. It just kept glaring. I poked it. Its glaring intensified. The fan whirred again. Ignoring the cupcake, I turned my attention to the fan and waved at it.

"Hi!" I chirped. (Hey, I was giving it a warm greeting! Plus, I was still a bit giddy from terrorizing that cupcake.) The fan, in response, turned from left to right, repeatedly. I guess that was its way of waving back. If I had been in a more awake, serious state of mind, then I probably would've freaked out. But I wasn't. I was sleepy, tired, and giddy. Therefore, I just smiled at it. The fan seemed to be content. The cupcake was not. It wobbled for my attention. It clearly wasn't done glaring at me.

Obviously, my mind wasn't being that rational, and later I felt silly doing so, but I stuck my tongue out at it. If looks could kill, I'd be a mess of organs and insides everywhere. I couldn't help it. The lack of sleep was taking a SERIOUS toll on me. Just to annoy it, I flicked the poor cupcake's candle. It wasn't too impressed when I did it.

I was still terrorizing the cupcake when I heard the jingle of bells, followed by a chorus of children cheering. I checked the time. Six am. Then I looked up. What a weird way to indicate the shift is over, I remember thinking. Waving goodbye to the cupcake and fan, I got out of my chair and proceeded to leave. However, I didn't get that far.

Standing in the right door frame was a tall, slender figure. It was dark inside, but bright on the other side, so I could only make out a silhouette. At first, I immediately assumed it was Fritz. But then I noticed the shape of bunny ears on its head. Definitely not Fritz. Instead, Bonnie stood there. I couldn't see his eyes, but I was certain that he was looking at me.

Straightening my back, I tried to make myself appear a bit taller because I truly was not sure why he was there. Didn't Fritz say I was safe after six am? Standing there, I refused to look away. Letting my guard down, even for just a moment, was not an option. About a quarter of a minute to half a minute passed when Bonnie finally turned away, and walked off down the hall, without a single word uttered. I didn't dare make a move until he disappeared completely out of view. When he did, I made a mad dash down the other hall. As soon as I turned into the hall, though, I slipped, lost my balance, and collapsed right outside the office door. Stupid shoes. Deciding it would be best not to linger, I scrambled to get up and took off like a rocket down the hall. I just kept zooming away and turned down the halls without a hitch, until I ran straight into someone.

"OW!" "ERGH!" We both collapsed onto the cold tiles that made up the floor. Looking up, I saw a girl pouting as she hugged her stomach. It then dawned on me that I had headbutted straight into her. Whoopsie.

"Uh, my bad." I apologized, as I tried to get up. Unfortunately, she tried to do the same thing at the same time, plus my shoe got caught on her scarf, so as I was getting up, she fell. And because it was MY shoe that got caught, I lost balance when her scarf jerked my foot and I fell with her. The two of us tried to get up and failed, over and over again. The girl looked like she was going to blow a fuse but when our eyes met, she burst into a smile. It was a bit strange.

"Ohhh! Hey, you're that new guy! We met at the counter last night, remember?" She grinned. My mind was blank for a moment. Then I remembered.

"Oh yeah!" I replied as I started to reorganize my mind. "Er, say, how about we continue this discussion once we get out of your scarf?" I asked, looking over at her scarf. Apparently, somewhere in the process, when I fell, the scarf got wrapped around my ankle, coiled around my right arm, and tightened on her neck. The other end of her scarf somehow found its way around her thigh, moved up to her right shoulder, then stretched to her left shoulder, where it carelessly hung off. We stared at it for a moment or two, before we started to wrestle our way out of it. Honestly, that was the most resistant scarf I had ever seen. After all the pulling, tugging and stretching, it remained intact once we were done. It was like new. Not a stain, it retracted back after it was stretched, there weren't even any holes. Like I had said, it was just like new.

"C'mon!" The girl hopped up, and snatched my arm, almost literally dragging me down the halls, where the staff was beginning to fill it up. It was nearly impossible to keep up. She moved with a lightness and ease, speeding through the halls as though I wasn't even there. But I couldn't say the same for myself. My lungs needed a break, and she clearly wasn't giving me one.

 

 

 

 

Panting, I struggled to catch my breath. The girl and I were seated at the same table I had sat with Fritz last night. Apparently, she had dragged me down the halls to here, just so we could get breakfast, and have a bit of chatter together. Right now, the chatter just wasn't happening. I was too out of breath to start a convo with her.

While I was trying to recover, the girl sat opposite of me. She had a bright smile as she kept turning and twisting her head and entire body to see the restaurant in its entirety, as though it was her first time seeing the place. Eventually, my breathing went back to normal, and I was able to speak again. Realizing we never properly introduced ourselves, I decided to start with that.

"So, uh, my name's Mike Schmidt. And you are...?" I asked, waiting for her response. The girl had been twisting her neck and body so she could see behind herself but snapped straight back to me as soon as I spoke. She turned so fast, I was surprised she didn't get whiplash.

"Cassidy!" She squealed cheerfully, "My name's Cassidy, but everyone just calls me Cinnamon!" Then she went on to talk about her personal life. Mainly on how "trashy all her ex-boyfriends were, and was so over them". When she finished chittering a mile a minute, she leaned in really close.

"So! What about you? What's your personal life like?" Cassidy had asked, her eyes were wide with excitement. She'd practically been bouncing in her seat. I looked at her, feeling very uncomfortable. I wasn't naive enough to go blabbing my life's history to some girl who I've known for only about one and a quarter of a day. But the way she had been staring at me was pretty unnerving.

Before I got the chance to reply, an android came by to take our order. Cassidy and I looked up. Bonnie stood there, with two menus in his hands. His expression was neutral, but his eyes seemed to be focused on me. He asked to take our orders, so Cassidy ordered one large cheese pizza. Sitting there, I lowered my eyes, and silently took one of the menus he had held out to us. I made sure not to say anything, out of fear.

Slowly flipping through the pages of the menu, I tried to find something good. Which was pretty hard, considering that seeing him had made me lose my appetite right away. Looking up and down the columns, there wasn't anything that appeased me enough to make me want to eat again. Finally, I handed the menu back to him, making sure not to make any eye contact. Bonnie silently extended his hand out, as he delicately took the menu from me. His eyes never flickered or blinked, they just stared at me, until he turned around and left, murmuring that it'd be ready in a minute.

I just sat there, dazed. My mind was swirling, so I couldn't concentrate. It was only when Cassidy started chattering that I reeled back into reality.

"Are you okay Mike? We can leave if you want. Something the matter? Why are you acting so weird? Does it have something to do with Bonnie? Was it me? Mike? C'mon say something!" Cassidy chattered, her eyes wide. Her concern was obvious.

"I'm alright, Ca- Cinnamon. Well, I will be," I replied, mumbling the last part under my breath. Apparently, she heard it anyway. She nodded. Her eyes held disbelief; she clearly hadn't bought my excuse. While she gazed at me with clear doubt in her eyes, I tried to get a hold of myself.

"Well, if you say so..." Cinnamon muttered, eyeing me one last time with that same, skeptical look in her eyes before she began her endless prattle about how horrible the mail service was in delivering her letters and packages. At that point, I decided to tune her out. Tapping my fingers on the table, I tried to find a way to pass the time.

Coincidentally, two minutes into Cinnamon's endless jabber, a man walked through the doors of the entrance, wearing the exact same security guard uniform as I was. His hair was dark, a mixture of black and brown, there was also a purple highlight in his hair, tanned skin, and a friendly expression. As I was observing him, he turned to his left a little, and our eyes immediately caught each other. I gulped, even though he was lean, he also looked pretty strong.

I was worried he might get annoyed that I was staring at him, but, rather, he didn't. Instead, he smiled cheerfully and strode on over to my table. Cinnamon, who had been screeching about something her stepbrother did, stopped and she went strangely quiet when she saw the man, as he came over. The man took a seat at our table and waved at me. He smiled at Cinnamon, and she returned it with an equally bright smile.

"Hey there! Hey Cinnamon!" The man cheerfully chirped. His eyes then landed on me. "You're the new guard, right? Fritz told me about you. You're... Mike! Mike, right?" I nodded, a bit confused. He broke into a face-splitting grin when I did. "Cool! First try! My name's Indigo! I see you've met Cinnamon! She's a great friend of mine." I turned over to Cinnamon, and she was practically glowing. I was worried that if her smile got any bigger, her face might break. In fact, both Indigo and Cinnamon were grinning like idiots. I just nodded, feeling a bit awkward. After a couple more seconds of silence, Indigo decided to break it.

"So! I see you're still alive, which must mean you survived your first night! Congratulations!" With that, he started to clap for me. I looked over at Cinnamon, but she saw it as an open invitation to join in. And just like that, I felt even more awkward sitting there, with two possible lunatics, clapping like idiots, with smiles so big, it was ridiculous.

Unfortunately, I had to sit through five minutes of that. Until Chica came over with our pizza. Chica had come up from behind Indigo and Cinnamon, therefore they didn't see her and continued on. She took one look at Indigo and Cinnamon, then looked at me as though I was crazy. There was some sympathy, mainly confusion, and a bit of suspicion in the look she gave me. To get their attention, Chica cleared her throat. They didn't hear her the first time, so she had to do it again.

They looked behind them and waved at Chica. Chica smiled at Cinnamon, then at Indigo. Her smile toward Indigo was less friendly and held less affection than it did to Cinnamon. I didn't think much of it at the time, though. Gently, Chica set down a large plate that held a steaming pizza.

"Your pizza," Chica said kindly, as she nodded at us, then turned around and went the other way. As I sat there, Indigo and Cinnamon helping themselves to the pizza, I realized something.

"Er, don't we have to pay...?" I asked Cinnamon because she was the one who had ordered. To my surprise, she shook her head.

"Nope! Chica's one of my bestest friends, and she does owe me a favor from yesterday!" Cinnamon giggled. Chica? Her friend? I didn't understand how she could be friends with an AI, at the time. I just nodded, confused. Cinnamon giggled again. "C'mon, Mike! Enjoy the pizza! _It's on me!_ "


	3. Mechanical Heart, Real Love. -3-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike takes a (not) small break to reflect on Indigo, Cinnamon, and what they said back at the pizzeria. Then Fritz comes along and interrupts him.

    Soon after, Indigo, Cinnamon, and I finished our pizza, we all said goodbye. Indigo and I headed home, while Cinnamon went back to work. Apparently, she was on an early lunch break. To be honest, I was glad to leave. We didn't have much small chatter, instead, Cinnamon kept yakking on and on how lousy her stepmother was, along with other useless information. I was so happy to have left. My ears were ringing after I left the pizzeria. And, I was super drowsy. I had wanted to leave, but I didn't want to offend or be rude to Cinnamon. Indigo seemed to be doing just fine, though. It was either that, or he was really good at hiding his annoyance. Hiding annoyance is a skill that I lacked, unfortunately.  
  
    Indigo and I went separate ways, so I walked home alone. I didn't really mind, though. The morning air was crisp and fresh. It was such a beautiful morning, so I decided to take a shortcut through the park. Plus, I was in a  _serious_ need of a nap. I'm not going to lie, the park benches there were actually pretty comfy. Countless times I've dozed off on them.  
  
    There were dew droplets on the plants that embellished the sidewalks in the park, and the trees gently shook in the gentle wind. I felt very relaxed as I sat down on a bench. After listening to Cinnamon for about fifteen minutes straight, I decided in that very moment that silence was golden, and should not be taken for granted.  
  
    Taking a deep breath, I inhaled the cool air. It was a nice morning, so the calmness let my mind wander and reflect. I thought about Cinnamon and Indigo, as I reflected on what Cinnamon had been speaking about at the table.  
  
    Cinnamon was a nice girl, if somewhat weird, no,  _really_ weird. Apparently, every morning before she goes to work, she knits a new scarf and wears it to work. Today she had woken up late, so she had thrown on the first scarf she saw, which was yesterday's scarf. She had a stepfamily, interestingly. She and her older brother had been adopted together. According to her, the family just wanted to adopt her brother. But she had made such a fuss over being separated, going as far as to tie a scarf to her and his neck, that the family just adopted her to shut her up. Which, in my opinion, was probably the worst choice ever. Cinnamon laughed when she said they never had a moment's peace after that. It then made me wonder about her brother, and how he could stand her. Made me pretty glad that I was an only child.  
  
    Then my mind moved on to Indigo. He seemed pretty nice and was close friends with Cinnamon. Shocker. Indigo, he knew good jokes and was really likable. It was why I liked him. He had his odd bits, like Cinnamon, but wasn't as odd as her. Indigo had lots of good traits. He was sensitive to feelings and understood things better than most people. When he didn't understand something, he would nod and pretend that he did understand, as not to offend the other person. He was able to adapt to change easily, which was why he and Cinnamon hit it off so well. After hearing her incessant yakking for five minutes, and without spewing a single complaint, and didn't even try to get out of it, Cinnamon declared he was a good friend. Once you get over her annoying jabbering, Indigo told me, she's actually a pretty swell girl. Which, surprisingly, was true.  
  
    Lazily, I rested my arms on either side of the bench. I sat there for a while, taking in the clean air. I was so relaxed, I eventually dozed off at one point. When I came to, the sun had risen high up in the sky. Considering its position, it was around noon-ish. Somewhere near that time.  
  
    Yawning, I began to wonder how much time had passed. I had a noon shift at my other job today, and I was curious if I was late. I was debating whether or not I should get up, or skip my shift. It wasn't like the boss ever noticed whether I appeared or not. I smiled to myself as I recalled the time I called in sick just to skip some days of work. That was an option I could do again. Then again, if I didn't show, they would take it out of my paycheck, which would not be good. My debating was interrupted shortly, though.  
  
    A chilly, ice-cold, FREEZING hand suddenly placed itself onto the back of my neck. Out of surprise, I jumped out of my seat.  
  
    "GYAH!" I screamed, then I slipped coming down and fell sideways onto the ground. I wasn't too happy when I saw who had scared me.  
  
    "Fritz! Geez! Not cool! Give a guy some warning or something!" I hissed. Fritz lazily smirked, satisfied. Seating himself onto the bench, he leaned back as I began to get up.  
  
    "And where would the fun be in that? Besides, it was your own fault for not paying attention. You trying to get robbed or something?" He snickered as he watched me try to get the mud off my face. It had rained last night, which was why the air was so clean and crisp, and the dirt turned into mud. He pointed at my cheek.  
  
    "You missed a spot there." He said as I sat down next to him.  
  
    "Shut up," I muttered as I tried to rub it off. Fritz just cocked a brow. I didn't like the look of his smile.  
  
    "Now you just smeared it. Hold on; I need a picture of this," Fritz smirked, as I freaked out.  
  
    "WHAT?! Hey, don't you dare! Give me that phone! Asshole!" I screeched as I reached out for his phone, but he leaned out of the way and pushed my head down. While I was trying to get out of his iron grip, he was busy texting it to Indigo and the other night guards.  
  
    "Dude! Let me go!" I yowled as he pulled me into a headlock. I shrieked and cursed up a storm as he smiled, clearly enjoying himself. "What is your problem?! Let me go!"  
  
    "Nope. I'm bored. You're entertaining me. So nope." Fritz replied calmly, as I squirmed under his unrelenting grip. Fritz was a lean man and was pretty skinny looking. So it  _amazed_ me how much muscle he really had. I tried to wriggle my way out, but he quickly put a stop to it. After about ten more minutes, my energy began to deplete. He clearly wasn't going to let me go, and I clearly couldn't get out, no matter how hard I tried. So after a few more tries, I eventually gave up.  
  
    I thought he'd let go seeing his fun stopped, but he didn't. After a few more minutes, I began to get irritated. I was still in a headlock, and my neck was starting to get hot. I was about to start protesting when somebody else entered the conversation.  
  
    "Geez, Fritz. What are you and Mike doing? You look like an overprotective husband, and Mike looks like a meek but annoyed wife." A familiar voice snickered. I looked up. Indigo stood a few feet away from Fritz and I. He looked pretty amused. I scowled at him.  
  
    "Indigo? What are you doing here?" I asked, suspiciously. He shrugged nonchalantly, as he strode over and took a seat next to us.  
  
    "Fritz sent me a picture of you, and from the background, I could tell you guys were at the park. Since I was bored, I decided to come over and hang out," He replied. His smile then turned into a smirk. "Sorry, was I interrupting anything?" I glared at him.  
  
    "Ha, ha, really funny," I growled as Indigo chuckled. "No, you weren't interrupting anything. Now that you're here, can you get Fritz off of me?" I asked as Indigo smiled sympathetically.  
  
    "I'd try, but he's got the grip of an octopus. Once he's got you, there's no escaping." He shrugged, as I groaned. I wriggled around a bit until I got comfortable. Finally, I looked up at Fritz. He looked super annoyed, for some reason. I was about to ask him if something was the matter when he suddenly spoke.  
  
    "Indigo, what are you doing here?" His voice was so icy, I nearly shivered. Why did he get so cold? Indigo didn't seem to really mind or care that Fritz wasn't that happy. He just smiled and shrugged as Fritz glared. But before I could even react, his grip went from loose but still trapping, to completely cutting off my air circulation. My throat felt tight, and white spots began to dot my vision. I coughed loudly, clawing at Fritz's arms until he finally realized he was slowly killing me. Fritz muttered a nearly inaudible 'sorry' as I gasped for air.   
  
    "Fritz?! What the hell?! Don't do that again! I seriously thought I was gonna die!" I snapped, as I glared at Fritz. He didn't say anything, just skimmed me over. When he was done, he flicked me on the forehead. I just continued glaring at him. He just stared back. Indigo chuckled.  
  
    "You 'kay, Mike?" Indigo asked. I nodded. "Hm, good. Well, I better get going. I have some errands to run. Catch you guys later." Indigo smiled, as he got up from the bench and left. I nodded and waved goodbye to him. Then I turned back around and glared at Fritz.  
  
    "Well?" Fritz looked down at me.  
  
    "Well, what?" Fritz asked. My glaring intensified.  
  
    "Why'd you choke me?!" I hissed. He muttered about it being an accident. I wasn't going to accept that.  
  
    "An accident?! You call nearly killing me an accident?!" I screeched as I lost it. "Hell, I nearly died!" Fritz shrugged, as he began to speak.  
  
    "Look, it  _was_ an accident. I don't know what you see in Indigo, but he gives me bad vibes. So when he came over, I tensed up, and forgot you were still there." I just looked at him. How could he forget I was still there? If I had someone in a headlock, no matter how long I have them, I'd still remember they were there.  
  
    "Honestly, what can you  _not_  see in him? He's such a great guy!" I finally said after some awkward silence. Fritz just shrugged and muttered something, as he leaned back. I watched him, mainly because there was nothing else to do.  
  
    "Hey, Fritz?" I asked. He closed his eyes but still responded.  
  
    "Hm?"  
  
    "Know what time it is?" I was curious to know what the time was, just to know how much of my shift I had missed.  
  
    "3:52 pm." Ah. An hour and eight minutes left.  
  
    "I have a different day job, and my shift ends in an hour. Think I should go?" From my short time knowing him, something told me he wasn't that reliable. But I only asked anyway because there wasn't anyone else I could confide in.  
  
    "Don't know about you, but I wouldn't. Boss'll probably yell at you for not showing up." He shrugged. I snorted.  
  
    "Are you kidding me? They don't even know what I look like! All they know is some guy named Schmidt didn't show. My other job is a family restaurant too but unlike Fazbear's, this job has more unfriendly co-workers. It's either you get out of the way, or they'll trample you without so much as an 'excuse me'." I grumbled. Fritz just nodded.  
  
    "Sounds harsh. Why do you stay there then?"  
  
    "Need a job, behind on bills and rent," I muttered. Fritz just nodded, again. Then, he did the most shocking thing ever. Slowly, I felt an arm slink its way around my neck. At first, I thought he was going to headlock me again. But he pulled me closer, instead. I realized it then, that this was his way of hugging. Fritz, he was an asshole. But a nice one. He was a nice jerk. Smiling internally, I quietly rested my head on his shoulder and appreciated the beautiful day.


	4. Mechanical Heart, Real Love. -4-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After some mishaps at home, and learning that management is planning on bringing certain androids back into the restaurant, Mike returns to work for his next shift. For some reason, the cupcake is acting weird. Mike follows it, unsure where it was leading him.

    I yawned as I made my way across the street. Fritz eventually let me go, saying he was getting tired, and didn't want to catch my 'idiocy' in case it was contagious. I stuck out my tongue when I left, Fritz snickering behind me. That had been about five minutes ago, now I was concentrating on making my way home. I had just succeeded in crossing the street without getting run over.

  
    Walking quickly, I tried to get home as fast as possible. I already wasted a couple of hours at the park, and I didn't want to delay getting back any longer. Besides, Willow was most likely very mad by now. Hurrying, I finally made my way into my area. It was the more shady side of town, where shady people and not so well off people lived or hung out. I fell into the category of not so well off. Couldn't make it to college, didn't have the brains or money. If you want a good job, you're more than likely in need of a degree, something I lacked.  
  
    A couple minutes later, after speed-walking and keeping my head low, I found myself outside my front door. Knocking, I called out that it was just me before I fished out my keys, and unlocked the door. Willow made me call out it was me every time I come home from somewhere. She's REALLY paranoid about people breaking in. Once, I forgot to do it, and she nearly fainted from freaking out.  
  
    "I'm home!" I called, waiting for a response as I closed the door and made my way to the desk in the far corner of the main room. It didn't take long for Willow to respond.  
  
    "Oh! Phew, it's just you. Sorry, I just came back too." Willow replied. She was standing in the far corner, where a small little room connected to the main one. I just shrugged. She's been going out lately, and it didn't bother me as much as it did when she first started. Besides, who am I to interfere with her social life?  
  
    "It's alright. Let me guess; you were-" I stated, not minding I was interrupted.  
  
    "-At Henry's apartment room, yeah." Willow sheepishly finished. I shrugged again. Those two had been constantly visiting each other. Henry seems to be sweet on Willow, and vice versa.  
  
    "Alright. Look, today's been busy, and I need rest. So please try and keep your activities quiet and to yourself." I told Willow, followed by a yawn. As I was making my way to my room, I heard her call out 'Okay!', along with some meowing. Pretending that she hadn't let the cats in again, I tossed myself onto my bed. Sighing, I rolled around in the blankets until I got comfortable. Closing my eyes, I tried not to listen to the yowling of cats and Willow from out the window, and eventually, when they began to start screeching at the top of their lungs and the neighbors started yelling at them, I finally fell asleep.  
  


    Walking out of my room, I went to the laptop to search something up. There was some sort of error, that read: 

 

ERROR LOADING  

FAILURE TO BRING UP INTERNET. NEED TO ERADICATE STIXNET.97576FUIAUY.HCTILGPENDIX.EXE 

 

IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS, YOU ARE AN IDIOT. 

AND TOO BAD.

SUCKA!!!!

  
    I choked on my coffee when I read the last couple of parts. Immediately, I slid into my desk seat and re-read it about ten more times, in utter shock.

    "Gee," I muttered to myself, my shock replaced with suspicion. "I thought Henry said he undid the programming. Hmm, this is another little trick of his, isn't it?" I looked it over a couple more times, then I picked up my phone and dialed my cousin Henry. Henry was the one who had given me the laptop, and he told me it was haunted. Like the stupid person I was, I just laughed it off and accepted it anyway. For the first couple of days, it kept acting up. It turned on in the dead of night, randomly crashed, and made weird noises whenever I wasn't on it. In a panic, I had called Henry, only to find out that it was just a sick prank of his. Apparently, he had put in a hard drive, that was programmed to make the computer act that way. I told him to get his ass over and fix it right away when he told me. He fixed it for me, and things were fine after that. Well, until this weird thing popped up.

    "Henry? Henry! What did you do this time?!" I hissed at the phone. Henry was confused about what I was talking about.

    "Mike? What's the matter? What's wrong?" Henry asked, on the other side of the line. I was pretty steamed.

    "Don't you 'what's wrong' me! You know what you did, now get over here and fix it!" I snapped back. There was a pause, followed by a sigh, on Henry's side.

    "Look, if this is about the hard disk, I already said I was sorry, okay? Can't you drop it now?" Henry groaned. I rolled my eyes at that.

    "Yes, I'd drop it if you FIXED it!!!" I screeched back. There was another pause, and when Henry finally responded, he sounded really puzzled.

    "Wha...? Mike... I  _did_ fix it. What the hell are you going on about?" Henry asked. I snorted at that. I turned back to the computer. The screen hadn't changed, so I took a picture of it and sent it to him. Then I returned to my call.

    "Well?!" I demanded, knowing Henry had read my text. There was an extended pause before I finally got an answer.

    "...Mike, I... I don't know what to say, because I swear on my  _life_ I didn't do that this time." Henry pleaded. He sounded genuine, so I believed him, and told him I'd restart the laptop to try and fix it.

  
    Restarting, I waited a couple of minutes, then I turned it back on. Only to find that it  _still_ had the same, stupid error screen. I glared at it, giving it a firm hit on the monitor. Banging my fists onto the keyboard, I gave out a cry of frustration. Restarting it usually worked! I stood up and turned around to leave. But as I was making my way to my bedroom, I heard a snicker behind me. I whirled around, ready to fight off anyone who was there. No one. So where'd I hear that giggle? I stood there, trying to figure it out when I heard yet another giggle. It came from the corner of the room, where the desk and laptop were. My eyes fell on the laptop, and I found myself making my way over.

    Seating myself down, I saw that the screen had changed. Finally! There was a whole flurry of numbers. I'll admit it, I'm a very dim light bulb. So it was only natural that I didn't know code even though I was staring right at it.

    I tapped the screen, unsure what to do. Silence followed. I stared at the rushing numbers, half-mesmerized, half-scared. Finally, I spoke up.

    "Um, who... who's there?" I asked, but there was no response. "Hello? Uh, hello there? Is somebody there?" Complete, utter silence was the response. I stared at it a couple more seconds before I slowly stood and backed up. I kept backing up until my back hit the wall. There was a moment of hesitation, then I burst into speed as I lunged for my phone, which was in my coat pocket, and the coat was hanging on the coat rack next to the front door.

    Grabbing it, I held it close to me, as I watched the computer screen cautiously. I was about to threaten the computer when the front door swung open. On reflex, I hurled myself at the person.

    "ARRRGHHHH!!!!" I screamed as I tackled them to the floor.

    "Oof!" They grunted as we hit the floor. I screeched as I started to hit them with my phone. Not that it did much damage. The person gripped onto both my wrists to stop me.

    "Hey! Stop it, Mike!" It took me a moment to realize why that voice sounded so familiar. I looked down at my victim.

    "Henry?! What are you doing here? And why did you enter my room? Did you already forget our talk about boundaries?" I questioned, as I got off of him. He rolled his eyes at me. I glared at him.

    "Relax, and no, I did not forget our talk about boundaries," Henry replied before he quietly added. "How could I forget, anyway?"

    "I HEARD that!" I hissed. Henry just snickered. During our talk of boundaries, I had mainly yelled at him for doing this and that, and to stay away from me because I didn't like him and vice versa.

    "As I said, Mike, relax. Besides, what are you doing with your phone? Taking selfies?" He teased. I gave him a light punch. I don't know why, but when we first met, he thought I was the type to take selfies nonstop.

    "No, I am not. I was about to call the police because someone hacked into my computer, and I can't get it to work." I coolly replied.  Henry looked surprised, then sheepish.

    "Well, about that, Mike, ya see,  _I_ did that. And BEFORE you go start screaming in my face, I just wanted to let you know that it was just a joke. A complete joke. And can I call my sister one last time before you kill me?" Henry sheepishly responded, grinning. I gave him my death glare, which said  _You are so DEAD._ I growled at him.

"Yeah. Call her. I'm sending  _you_  on a one way trip to  _hell_."

  
  
  
    I woke up a couple hours later. The dream I had was actually a flashback to when Henry dealt his second prank on me. We both later agreed that he had gotten me good, way better than the first. Changing into normal clothes, I noticed the apartment was strangely quiet. When you have Willow and her cats to deal with, it's hard to recall a time when the apartment was silent. Still drowsy, I stumbled into the main room. I scoped out the area, unsure of what to expect when I spotted Willow entering through the window. Shoot. And just as I was enjoying the peaceful quiet.  
  
    "How many times do I have to tell you; enter through the FRONT door. Not the windows," I groaned, as Willow shrugged nonchalantly.  
  
    "I'm practicing to be a cat. And I was visiting the cats. Plus I forgot to bring the keys," Willow reasoned innocently. I groaned again.  
  
    "Willow, in order to get that window open, you need keys. Which you are CLEARLY holding! And on that key ring, is the house key!" I muttered. By now, I had lost track of how many times I had to remind her of this. Not that it ever got through her head. She looked at the bundle of keys in her hand.  
  
    "Oh. Okay," And just like that, she walked off as though nothing had happened. I sighed.  
  
    "I'm going out for groceries. Need anything?"  
  
    "No. Oh! Mike, which brush is yours?"  
  
    "The one with the blue smiley face sticker on the handle. Why?"  
  
    "Well, you see, I was grooming the cats but forgot which brush was yours, so I did eeny-meeny-miny-mo, and it picked out your brush, so I-"  
  
    "No. Just  _ **no**_."  _Slam!  
  
  
  
  
   _Humming, I strolled through the aisles. Strange as it may sound, the grocery store had been the one place where I felt comfortable. It had a very peaceful atmosphere, quiet chattering, and nice music that covered up the silence.It wasn't too loud, or too soft. It was just right. I loved the grocery store. On top of that, the staff was friendly, and already knew who I was after seeing me on a daily basis. Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't shop every time I visited. I just stood around and chatted with others, until I was ready to leave. The employees didn't mind as long as I didn't shoplift or distract them from something important. Today I was buying, mainly because our food supply had been depleting. I had no doubt that Willow and the cats were guilty.  
  
    Looking through, I picked up what was needed, and headed for the checkout. As I placed my items on the conveyor belt, I noticed that the cashier was reading a magazine. They quickly put it down when I arrived, though. While they were scanning my groceries, I finally spoke.  
  
    "Um, excuse me?" He looked up.  
  
    "Yes, mister?" He asked, looking pretty curious. I guess that he wasn't used to people asking him questions. Must be a newbie.  
  
    "That magazine you were reading... could you tell me where I could get a copy?" I politely asked him. He stopped bagging the items so he could quickly fish for it. Then he held it out to me.  
  
    "Here! You can have it. I was just about to throw it out," He chirped when he saw how puzzled I was.  
  
    "Um, thanks...?" I replied, slightly confused. He just smiled happily and continued bagging. After he finished, I thanked him as I took the bags from him. When I was out of the doors, I leaned on the wall and quickly flipped through the pages. It wasn't the magazine that interested me, but something that I had spotted inside it. I kept skimming the pages until I came upon what I was looking for. It was in that small local stories section. The heading was  _Plans To Bring Back Toy Animatronics: Yay or Nay?_ I found that quite interesting, considering that nobody ever told me about 'Toy' animatronics. Continuing, I took in the information as I read.  
  
     _A popular child restaurant's management is making plans to bring the Toy Animatronics. There has been great controversy over this topic. Many believe that since they are newer models, they should replace the original Freddy Frazbear group. Others argue that there have been casualties of children caused by these machines, while there was never an accident with the originals. This has not been the first time that the management has brought them back after various incidents were caused because of them. The CEO insists that they have found the faulty in the animatronics and will be even better than before, and guarantees that they are completely child safe. Many argue that they have said this before and that an accident always occurs not long after they have been brought back. They also say that the animatronics also have had incidents where they attack staff, parents, and children in broad daylight. There have also been the incidents where the animatronics have gone against each other, such as Balloon Girl pouncing and beating up Balloon Boy. Concerned parents say that it sets a bad example on their kids, and it encourages the concept of bullying others. The ones who supported the Toys had trouble counter-claiming that. We have reached out to the management, asking them how they felt about that specific concern, and they have yet to respond. The Toys are being brought back; is that a good thing, or a recipe for disaster?  
  
   _I read that once, then twice. I was shocked. Why bring back androids if they kept causing trouble and casualties? It was reassuring to know that the original Freddy Frazbear and crew weren't dangerous to the public, but seriously, why? As I kept reading it over and over again, I noticed that they had mentioned the androids attacking staff during the day. The day shift must've been there whenever it happened, and Cinnamon was on the day shift. I made a mental note to ask Cinnamon about these 'Toy' androids when I got the chance. Stuffing the magazine into my jacket pocket, I started to make my way home.  
  
  
  
  
    The apartment was dead quiet when I got back. Looking around, I tried to find where Willow could possibly be hiding, when I spotted something. Making my way to the computer, there was a sticky note from her.  
  
     _Hi Mike. I know you said that I'm not supposed to leave this house when no one's here, so I didn't. I left to visit Henry. He promised to show me how to play ~~pranks~~  Go Fish today. Love, Willow.  
_     _PS. I put Stacey in charge of watching the house, so you don't have to worry about us getting robbed. Stacey will protect the house when it's empty.  
  
_     "Mew," I looked down, to find an orange striped kitten trying to climb me. I sighed because this cat was Stacey. I don't know what was running through Willow's head when she put Stacey in charge. Stacey was afraid of her own shadow. No joke. She once tried to attack it and went yowling back to Willow when she couldn't lay a paw on it. Usually, I'd tell Stacey to go back to her pack of cats, but I was tired, so I just picked her up and left her sitting on the computer keyboard. That was her favorite spot, for some reason. She looked very relaxed, something I was envious of. Because while she was busy spamming the keys, I'd be busy cleaning out the cat hair from my hairbrush. I knew all sorts of tricks and techniques to get the hair out. Unfortunately, that was because this wasn't the first time this happened.  
  
  
  
  
     _Splash! Splash!_ I splashed through the rain puddles, cursing under my breath. It had rained- no,  _poured_ a while ago. It had diminished down to just a sprinkle, but the puddles were left behind. I was on my way to my shift, and I was stuck dealing with all this water. And a wet uniform was  _definitely_ no fun. Especially when you just sit in a chair, closing doors just to save your life.  _I hope the androids will leave me alone this, like last time._ I thought to myself. I really hoped that tonight would be as peaceful as the last. Here was to hoping.  
  
    I made it to the office with a couple minutes to spare. Immediately, I took my jacket off. I was NOT about to do my job in a soaking wet jacket. Along the way, a car had driven by and splashed water all over me. Fun. REAL FUN. Gently, I placed my jacket on the chair to dry. Yeah, I didn't need to always sit anyway. Being a bit early was better than being a bit late, especially with this kind of job. There was a tape on the desk when I arrived, just like last time. I inspected it for a moment, out of mere curiosity, before I popped it into the player.  
  
    "Err, hello! Hello? Uhh... well, if you're hearing this, you made it to day two. Uhh, congrats!" The recording said, then began to talk about other stuff, such as the door lights and the blind spots that require the door lights. Really useful, especially considering this was the  _second_ shift. Why didn't he mention it on his first recording, I don't know. Interestingly, Scott said that the pirate didn't become as active if constantly monitored. Cool. Good to know.  
  
    Watching the cameras, I made sure that nothing was out of the ordinary. And that nothing was near me. And that the fox wasn't near me. Idiot I may be, I'm not stupid. Well, not  _entirely_. But I saw that pirate fox once on some old ad a while ago, and that hook of his looked pretty dangerous. Especially to my organs. If I died, I wanted any of them but the fox dude to kill me.  _A quick death was better than getting pierced to death_ , the thought running through my head as I skimmed the rooms over. As I was doing so, I noticed a pattern. Bonnie was advancing over to me, it just wasn't obvious. He had moved from the stage to a different room, lingered for a while, then advanced to a hallway that was a little closer to the office I was in.  
  
    I kept my guard on high alert, afraid that he might just come rushing down. So far, he seemed content with his hallway. And Chica was coming to visit him, anyway. Aaannd here comes Freddy to shoo them both. Chica went back to her kitchen. Bonnie wandered to the same hallway as one of my doors. Shoot. At least he wasn't anywhere near the door or window. Right now, in the very least. There was no doubt that Bonnie might come even closer, but I wasn't about to waste power closing the door unless Bonnie was near it.  
  
    Seeing that Bonnie looked content remaining where he was, I clicked through the cameras again. Freddy was nowhere in sight, which was worrying. I turned on both lights, but Freddy wasn't there either. Which meant he was either in the cove or one of those rooms where the cameras didn't cover. Moving on, Chica was still in the kitchen. Bonnie didn't move from where he was. The fox was most likely in his cove since I couldn't find him anywhere. I checked on Bonnie again. Same old spot, so I put the tablet down. There was a thump behind me, so I whirled around, only to find a certain cupcake and fan staring at me. I had forgotten about them.  
  
    I let out a breath of relief. Then I watched them. The cupcake was looking at me again, with its creepy eyes. The fan, I had a feeling it was watching me too, even though it had no eyes. We just gazed at each other for a while, unsure what to do. Finally, I got sick of the silence and broke it.  
  
    "So, uh, what's new guys?" I felt kind of stupid talking to them because I wasn't as sleepy as I was the night before. But I did it anyway. I fiddled with my thumbs until the cupcake responded. At least, I think it did. It wobbled, which I believe was its way of saying something back. I just looked at it, and it looked right back at me.  
  
    "Um, righhht. No idea what that means, sorry," I replied, as I shifted a bit. It felt... strange talking to a cupcake and fan. It was like they were alive but at the same time, not. Then again, I wouldn't put it past them that they were alive. Especially since the cupcake thing had eyes. It. Had. Eyes. What was the point of giving it eyes? I admit that they were a bit cute, but still. What was the point of making it cute if it didn't go out to entertain the kids? Although, it would be funny to see Chica carrying it around on a tray. Funny and a bit weird.  _Great,_ I thought to myself,  _Now I have a mental image of that stuck in my mind. Just great._  
  
    I gave the cupcake a few pokes before I returned to the tablet, trying to avert my mind from that slightly comical and creepy mental picture. Everything was just fine, except for the fact Bonnie advanced even closer. Shoot. He wasn't close enough for me to close the door, but he was almost cutting it. Almost. I watched him for a couple of seconds, but he seemed like he wasn't going to go anywhere, so I turned back to the tablet and kept flicking through the cameras, out of idleness and increased paranoia. I just kept flicking through it, until I heard a loud sound.  _Klunk!_  
  
    "AAAAGGHHH!!!" I screamed as I jumped up, and landed back first on the ground. "Owwch..." I hissed as I tried to pick myself up. When I had jumped, my foot slipped, causing me to propel back. Looking up, I found the source of the sound. The cupcake fell off the desk. I glared at it.  
  
    "Are you kidding me?! You make me jump many feet, make my back hurt, and think that Bonnie entered just because  _you_  had to fall off the desk," I growled at the cupcake. I wasn't really sure what I was expecting, but I certainly wasn't expecting it to just roll out of the office. I watched it stop at the doorway, its eyes were focused squarely on me. I looked at the fan, sort of unsure what to do.  
  
    "Should I follow it?" I asked because a part of me felt tempted to follow, while the other part didn't want to die out of stupidity.  _Whirrr.  
  
   _"I guess I'll go," I replied, before checking the tablet, just to make sure that the androids, especially Bonnie, wasn't near. Chica was in her kitchen, Bonnie hadn't left or advanced, Freddy was entering the cove, and the pirate was most likely in there. Finally pulling myself off the floor, I cautiously followed the cupcake, as it continued to roll away. It was in that moment that I officially decided I was the stupidest person ever to walk the earth.  
  
    "My life's in your hands, so this better not get me killed," I muttered to the cupcake, being careful to keep my voice low. We had left through the opposite door that Bonnie was standing near, thank goodness. The cupcake didn't make any sort of response, it just kept rolling.  
  
    It kept rolling until we reached this door. A door that the cameras didn't cover.  
  
    "So, uh, why'd you bring me here?" I asked the cupcake, staring at the door. The cupcake just kept rolling into the door, over and over again, until I finally pushed it open. The cupcake rolled in. I was nervous, but since I had followed it out this far, I guessed there was really nothing I could do but follow it. Of course, I could run back to the office screaming like a lunatic, but something told me not to do that. Taking a deep breath, I followed the cupcake in, unsure of what lurked in the darkness of this room. Just as I took a few steps into the room, the door closed behind me. I looked back, but no one was there.  _Yeah, there really is no turning back now._ I thought to myself, as I continued to walk down the room. It was pitch black, and I was scared whenever I couldn't see. Holding my hands out, I tried to walk carefully. Surprisingly, I ran into nothing along the way. Eventually, I saw the glow of the cupcake's eyes and its candle. If I hadn't been so frightened, I probably would've questioned how its eyes could glow. But I was very, very panicked, so I hurried over to the cupcake, and picked it up. Looking around, there wasn't much to see because it was so dark. My voice barely above a whisper, I murmured to the cupcake.  
  
    "...So why'd you bring me here?"


	5. Mechanical Heart, Real Love. -5-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After some strange events at work, Mike finally is able to return back to his apartment. Unfortunately, a certain girl whose name starts with "Will" and ends with "Ow" has successfully prevented him from getting his much-needed sleep.

    There was no response. Naturally. I hadn't been expecting one, anyway. Quiet, I stood there. The silence was eerie, and with each passing second, I felt closer and closer to completely losing it and freaking out. I hugged the cupcake even closer, which brought on minimal comfort. It was better than nothing, though. Unsure what to do, I peered at the cupcake. It wasn't looking at me but behind me. Slowly, I turned around. Nothing. That's when I felt the cupcake start wriggling in my arms. It seemed like it wanted to go somewhere. Looking around, it was really dark, so I wasn't sure whether the cupcake and I were alone. The cupcake squirmed even more. Gently, I put it on the ground, making sure it was on its side, so it could roll around.  
  
    As soon as I placed it down, it started rolling immediately. Its candle and eyes were the only sources of light in here, and I definitely did not want to be left in the dark again. So I quickly dashed after it. For a plastic cupcake, it sure could move fast. Keeping up with it was much,  _much_ harder than it sounded.  
  
    Soon, I was out of breath. I don't know where it had led me, all I know is that it was a very far dash. Panting, I used up my remaining energy to trudge over to the cupcake, who,  _FINALLY_  stopped. There was a crate of boxes, so I rested on the floor, as I leaned on one of them. I didn't trust those boxes to be sturdy enough to not collapse if I sat on it. I cast a glance at the cupcake. Somehow, when I was busy trying to catch my breath, the cupcake had managed to get on top of a crate. So I gave it a strange look.  
  
    "...Just how'd you get up there?" The cupcake was silent. Then it wobbled. And then its eyes looked somewhere else. I followed its eyes until I noticed something. There was a piece of paper taped to one of the crates. Curious, I carefully removed it. Scooting closer to the cupcake, I held the paper up, so I could read it in the cupcake's candlelight. Its eyes glowed, but they weren't as bright as its candle.   
  
 _Hey Mike. I gotta favor to ask you. I have something during the next night, so I can't make it to my shift. Hoped you could cover for me. If not, then please ask Fritz or Jeremy for me. Thanks. Your buddy, Indigo  
    PS. I know I already asked you of a favor, but could you also leave a hammer in the office when you leave tomorrow night? I'm doing some handiwork, and I just want to borrow it. I'll be doing the shift after that, and I seemed to have misplaced my hammer. Thanks again.  
  
   _"Huh. Indigo wants me to cover for him tomorrow night, and he needs to borrow a hammer? Okay, I can do the first part, as for the second, I'll see if I have a hammer at home. Doubt I do, though Last I saw it was when I was packing my belongings to move into my apartment room." I muttered to myself. Shrugging, I stuffed it into my shirt pocket. Then I looked at the cupcake. It looked right back at me.  
  
    "Um, mind showing me where the exit is?" The candle went out, and its eyes stopped glowing. I groaned. "Are you  _kidding_ me?!"  
  
    Getting up, I blindly waved my arms in the direction of the cupcake, until I felt it. When I did, I held it close to me. Gently hugging it, I sat back down.  
  
    "I'm not letting you go until you show me where I can get out of here," I coolly told it. It wriggled a bit, but I refused to let it go. Yawning, I held it even closer, snuggling my cheek into it. For a plastic cupcake, it was actually pretty comfy. The plastic wasn't that hard, and in a way, it was kinda soft.   
  
    "Mmmm. I'm not letting you go until..." Carl said that I had fallen asleep midsentence, I was too sleepy and worried at the time to actually recover most of the details now. He also said that I muttered about Bonnie and marriage in my sleep, but I'm pretty sure he made that part up.  
  
  
  
  
    "Mmm?" Stretching, I yawned, then I took in my surroundings. It looked like I was in some sort of room. There was dust, faded posters, and a bunch of dusty... boxes. Yeah, boxes. Boxes. My eyes widened as I realized what had happened before I had fallen asleep. Looking down, I expected to see the cupcake, but, weirdly, it was no longer there. What I also wasn't expecting was my jacket to be placed on me, as though it were a blanket. I quickly looked from left to right. I was alone, so... who put my jacket on me? And where did the cupcake go? Rapidly, I began to search for the cupcake. I had it when I fell asleep, so where did it go?! Did I lose it?! I was very concerned about where that cupcake possibly could've gone when something dawned on me. Time. How much time had passed while I was asleep? Standing up, I grabbed my jacket and decided to find out. The room was dimly lit, whereas it was pitch black when I entered. Probably was daytime now. If so, I was getting the hell out of here! Well, after I found the exit. The cupcake had led me out very far if I could remember correctly. It was hard to think; my mind was still half-asleep.  
  
    After much stumbling and tripping over the boxes, I finally found my way to a door. Crossing my fingers, I pushed the door open, hoping with all my might that this door would free me from this eerie room. Gently, I pushed the door open and stepped out. It looked like I had stepped out into the hallway, but I had come face to face with an android that resembled Chica. Maybe I was in the wrong hallway, and this door had lead to an alternate dimension of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria?  
  
    " 'Scuse me," I said, as I turned around and proceeded to go back and find the right door that led to the real Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. Unfortunately, my plan was put on halt when the android grabbed my collar and pulled me away from the room. I turned back around to face her. She spoke first.  
  
    "Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, where all your dreams come true, and happiness is made! My name is Chii, what is your name?" She crisply asked. I just stared at her. When I didn't respond, she spoke again.  
  
    "Little boy, are you lost? Where are your parents? My name is Chii, why don't we go find your parents? But first, what is your name, little boy?" She repeated. Dumbfounded, I wasn't sure what to do. I never realized how tall androids were compared to humans until I stood in front of her. Since I had been caught on the spot and was having a mental panic attack, I tried to get out of that situation. Fast.  
  
    "HiThereI'mMikeNiceToMeetYouChiiCanIGoNow?" I rapidly asked, in one breath. Something in her neutral expression flickered, and Chii didn't seem satisfied with my answer, so she began to reach out to me. When her hand was mere inches from my face, a sharp, deep voice stopped her.  
  
    "Leave him alone. We have a deal, remember? Not to mention the rules. He came while you guys were out, so he's ours. Not yours. Step away from him," A familiar voice commanded. We both looked to the side. Freddy Fazbear himself stood there. Chii hissed and gnashed her teeth at him, but did as he said, and put space between the two of us. She shot him one last glare before she stalked off. I gulped when Freddy looked at me. I looked back at him, trying to avoid his menacing eyes.  
  
    "Stay away from the Toys. They don't follow the rules as we do," Was all he said before he turned and walked off too. Mesmerized, I watched him. His words confused me. Rules? Deal? I was theirs? Toys? That Chii girl was a Toy? The Toys were here? My head started to spin with the overload of newfound information. Doozy, I quietly made my way to the front doors, so I could leave this complicated place. Along the way, I noticed more unfamiliar androids. One looked like Freddy, with a light brown highlight in his hair, plus there was a blue version of Bonnie, with a white highlight. The blue rabbit looked really unhappy, for some reason. I noticed he was wearing what seemed to be makeup.  _That is probably why he is so grumpy looking,_ I mused silently to myself, as I exited the building. Something told me something was off, I just wasn't sure what. I just felt like something was wrong, and it had to do with that room in some way.  
  
  
  
  
    "I'm home!" I called out, not actually expecting a response. But I did get one anyway. A chorus of meowing. Groaning, I slapped my hand onto my face. This had been a tiring day, and Willow had just made it worse. I did not want to see what I knew I was going to see. Slowly, I removed my hand from my face, I saw what I least wanted to. A whole pack of cats. In the main room. Great. Just great. Why did I even put up with these cats?  
  
    "Not again!" I moaned in exasperation. Last time Willow had let the whole pack in, I had to replace everything they broke. Don't ask me how, but they somehow even managed to break the SHOWERHEAD. I was ready to give up on those cats at that point. No matter how many times I've tried, I couldn't get them to be at least a little bit civilized or housebroken. Annoyingly, Willow knew this, but she always let them back in anyway.  
  
    Sighing, I decided to first check for any signs of Willow before I grabbed a quick nap. Looking around, it took a long while to find anything. That girl sure knows how to hide notes. Eventually, I found a sticky note on the window. It was half hidden, because it had been placed in the far corner of the window, and it was small.  
  
     _Hey there Mike. I won't be back for a while. Henry's taking me out to a place with a great buffet. Well, he said it was great. After that, he wanted to teach me how to bowl, so we're going to the bowling alley after that. Henry said that after the bowling alley, he has this surprise for me. Therefore, I will not be back for a while. Sorry. I was worried about our house, and I knew Stacey couldn't fend off burglars after a long time, so I had the whole pack help her defend the house. Sincerely, Willow._  
    PS. While I was trying to make dinner for you, cause I don't want you going hungry and dying on me, I accidentally burned the pan, and I think I broke the stove. Then some stuff happened, and I think I broke some other stuff. Like the pot. And the refrigerator. And your computer. And the window. And the bathroom lock. And your closet doors. And the kitchen sink. And your piggy bank. And your alarm clock. And your pillow. And your mattress. And the toilet. And the bathroom sink pipes. And the dining table. And it's chairs. Sorry! Good luck fixing all that!  
  
     **"WILLLLOOOOW!!!!"**


	6. Mechanical Heart, Real Love. -6-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After dealing with Willow and her cats' horrible destruction, Mike leaves for work. At work, things are different, especially with a new batch of androids to watch over; the Toys. Things are pretty normal, well, as normal as working at their can get, but things change once Mike receives a surprise visit from someone new.

    I was sleepy. I was tired. I was in need of a good rest. But was I resting? Nope! Why? Because Willow HAD to go around and wreck almost every piece of property I owned. And I had no doubt that she had sidekicks to aid her. AKA, her cats. Those annoying, troublesome, reckless, cats! Why couldn't they be more docile and housebroken, I don't know.  
  
    "Shit! What did they do to this?" I cursed to myself, as I tried to tape up the pipes. I had no idea how those pipes worked, much less how to fix them. So all I could do was duct tape it up to stop its leaking. Currently, the pipes under the sink were being defiant and refused to show me where the leak was. And the cats weren't any more helpful. They kept on jumping on my head and crawled onto my legs. They even knocked down all the toothbrushes and toothpaste, those attention freaks. I had already repaired the chairs legs as much as I could, it more or less depended on how strong the tape was to keep the leg attached to the chair. The burn stain on the pan wouldn't come off, no matter how hard I scrubbed it. The fridge couldn't be helped; I don't know what Willow and the cats did, but for some reason it no longer refrigerates. There were various scratch marks on the pieces that were once the alarm clock, so it was pretty obvious who the culprit was. The closet doors in my room miraculously broke because SOMEBODY had been attacking the hinges with their  _little_ claws. Namely, Stacey. She was the smallest and had the smallest claws. And I have my suspicions that a certain girl helped by slamming the doors until the hinges broke. As for what happened to my clothes once the doors broke, I don't want to talk about. But just think of it this way; sharp claws + unprotected clothes + shoes + sharp cat teeth = total destruction. I was not a happy camper when I saw what the cats did. And they were actually PROUD of their handiwork.  
  
    Wrapping the last piece of tape, I stood up. I couldn't find the exact spot of the leak, so I just taped the whole thing up. Henry would get onto me later for not leaving the pipes alone if I didn't know how to fix it, but I had to do it. I mean, who would want their apartment room to flood over, and have to pay for all the damage caused? Not me! That being said, I still had to deal with the other ruined things from Willow and her cat's' destruction phase.  
  
    "Moving on! Now, what is next on the list? Hmm. The stove. I hope they didn't break it too bad," I muttered to myself, as I tiredly made my way over to the small kitchen area. The stove looked just fine, but, just to be sure, I turned up the heat. Annnnnddd... nothing happened. I placed my hand flat onto it. The surface was cold.  _Ah. So that's how it's broken. She and the cats somehow broke the heating thing, apparently. Not sure how to deal with this._ I turned the stove off, and returned to my list, placing a star next to the stove. Next on the list was the mattress. I put a circle around that. I already saw the mattress and was gonna 'repair' it later. After that was the window. Turning around, I made my way to the window. There were a few windows in our apartment, but I knew which window Willow was referring to, mainly because she only ever entered through the same window.  
  
    Peering at it, I did my best to inspect the window. It was just fine, except for the fact that Willow and the cats somehow jammed it. From the looks of it, that dried up stuff there looked an awful lot like super-glue, and duct tape. What I wanted to know was not how they jammed it, but how they got their hands on my tape. I could've sworn I hid it out of Willow's reach. Namely, the top of the refrigerator. But when Willow wants something, she gets it. One way or another.  
  
    Sighing, I stepped away from the window. As I did, I realized something. I had been able to inspect the stove and window without getting disturbed. On top of that, it was quiet. Looking around, I started to search for the cats. They were just like Willow. If it was quiet, if I went undisturbed, and if everything seemed to be in its place at first glance; something was up.  
  
    "Stacey! Orange! Kitty Cat! Where are you guys?" I muttered to myself, as I started to turn things over. "Meowz! Scar! Who wants a kitty treat? I have a dead bird for you guys! C'mon, that usually works! Where are they?"  _Then_ it dawned on me.  _I_ was in the  _main room_. I left. The door. For my  _bedroom_. Wide.  _OPEN_.   
  
    Bedroom + cats + curiosity + tendency to shred everything = Category Five Tornado.  
  
    "Shit."  
  
  
  
  
    "Now take a good look at the apartment, and see what your actions have caused!" I hissed at Willow. She just shrugged and replied with a sheepish 'Sorry'.  
  
    "Sorry?! Is that all you have to say? From now on, you are in charge of cleaning up your cats' messes!" I growled. She just shrugged again.  
  
    "Okay," Was all she said. With a sigh, I made my way down the hall, calling for her to clean up. I've been tired ever since I had gotten back from my shift, and now my shift was nearing again, and I haven't gotten a lick of rest. Exhausted, I tossed myself onto my bed. It wasn't that comfortable, mainly because the springs were poking out here and there. Henry promised to help deal with the troubles that Willow had caused, tomorrow morning. Exhaling, I took off my jacket. Forgot I still had it on me. When I did, I noticed something sticking out of my shirt's little pocket. Taking it out, I unfurled it and read. Then I groaned. During the tiring events of today, I had completely forgotten about that note. Therefore, I forgot to search for my hammer, and I didn't have Fritz or Indigo's number.  
  
    Squeezing a pillow over my face, I let out a cry of frustration. Today was horrible. My last shift was weird, and now I had to deal with these 'Toys' during this shift.  _Where in my childhood did I go astray to have landed in this position?_ I thought to myself, as I lay on the lumpy mattress. Forcing myself up, I decided to be a good friend and go look for that hammer. Now that my alarm clock was broken, there was nothing left to alert me that I had twenty minutes before my shift started.  
  
    I let my line of sight land on the closet. That was where I had put all my packed up items that I was yet to unpack. Which, they had been collecting dust in there for about a year now, so I guess that there was no reason not to go through them now. My hammer was bound to show up then. With a sigh, I heaved myself off the bed and started to go open the boxes.  
  
  
  
  
    Good news; I found the hammer. Bad news; I only had ten minutes to clean up that horrible mess in my closet before my shift started. Better news; Willow and her cats were tucked in, so I could lock my bedroom door and not worry about them knocking it down while I'm away. Badder news; that clock was actually five minutes ahead, therefore I realized I only had five minutes. Worst news; there aren't any "best news". That was how I crammed getting to work in five minutes. And how I barely made it to the office in time.  
  
    "Just in time!" I declared as I jumped into the office chair. Picking up the tablet, I watched as the androids roamed the halls. Tonight, there were more androids. These weirdo ones called the Toys. They wouldn't have been that bad, in my opinion, if it weren't for the make-up they wore.  _Seriously_ , I mused to myself,  _Why do they need that make-up anyway? Makes them look weird._ A few Toys wandered near the office, but none came any closer. I wondered why, but I certainly wasn't about to stop their restraint. I flicked through the cameras on a constant, daily basis. I didn't have any experience with these "Toys", so I sure as hell weren't about to trust them not to get close while I'm being distracted by a certain cupcake. Speaking of, it wasn't here in the office tonight. I wonder why. Oh. Never mind, there it is. Chica is holding it. As I watched Chica wander the halls with the cupcake in her hands, something occurred to me. I was starting to get obsessed with the cupcake, whenever I was on my shift. I wasn't sure whether that was bad or good.  
  
    Placing the tablet down, I decided I needed a momentary break. I had just checked, and none of the androids were near me, so I knew I was safe. Stretching, I yawned softly as I rubbed my eyes. Staying awake was becoming a challenge with each passing minute. I made a mental note to hibernate the whole day as soon as I got back to my apartment room. My eyes were really tired, and I was sure that if I looked in a mirror, they were gonna be bloodshot. Raising my head, my gaze landed on the posters and drawings above the desk. Mainly the drawings. A few depicted a yellow/gold colored blob, with what I assumed were bear ears. Which was strange, considering that I had never seen a bear that was not brown around here.  
  
    Back to the tablet, I watched as the androids went about their daily business. I was more focused on the Toys because they were new to me. From the looks of it, they were in better condition, and their fashion of clothes was more modern. Especially the bear. I noticed that he always peered at his reflection wherever he could. It was either he had an ego or was very serious about keeping his face clean. The second option seemed to be more correct, from what I could see. But what really stuck out to me, was how the Toys and the originals, or Classics, (as Cinnamon called them a few times), were hardly in the same room. And when they were, they seemed to just ignore each other. I safely assumed they didn't get along.  
  
    Putting the tablet down, I closed one of the doors, because Balloon Boy was sneaking up on me. Just because I was on the tablet a moment ago, did not mean I wouldn't spot him from coming down the hall. Picking it back up, I decided to keep sweeping through the cameras. As I said before, I did not know or trust the new guys. I didn't trust the older ones either, but at least I had a better understanding of what they were going to do next. Well, sort of.  
  
    Most of the androids were scattered everywhere, but the Toys and Classics still kept their distance. They never stayed in the same spot for long, making it even more difficult to keep up with them. Could've been worse, though. It seemed like the Classics all had their own little thing to tend to, so they hardly came by. It was the Toys that gave me trouble. I couldn't put the tablet down for one second; or else they'd start lurking even closer to the doors. I had them under control, though. Only a few nights into this job, and I gained a pair of very watchful eyes. It was a necessity if you wanted to survive this job, something that the workers don't tell you.  
  
    I gave a tired glare to the tablet, silently wishing that Balloon Boy would step away from the doors. They were consuming energy while closed, which was not good. Without energy, the doors won't work, and I'll die. Again, not good. Closing my eyes, I counted to ten, then checked the tablet once more. Five more hours. I groaned.  _This night seriously could not go by faster_ , I thought to myself, as Balloon Boy tapped on the window.  
  
  
  
  
    I was in the middle of zoning off when I heard a noise. It sounded like rusty door hinges, the way they creak and hiss when you use them. Something along those lines. It took me about a moment or two to realize the sound came from above me. Every instinct in me told me to run. I didn't. Rather, I slowly tilted my head up. And then I almost screamed. I came face to face with a head. It was looking right at me. Our faces were about an inch or two apart. For about a moment, I was too stunned to move. When I regained my senses, I did the next best thing I could do. Hide under the desk.  
  
    Of course, the head peeked under the desk. I seriously thought it was gonna kill me. So I shut my eyes and awaited death. About a minute passed before I finally opened my eyes. The head was still there, but upon closer observation, it was looking at me with more curiosity than malice. I watched it carefully. It appeared to be doing the exact same.  
  
    "...Hi," I squeaked because the silence was beginning to get to me. The head smiled. Then it pulled back, putting space between the two of us. Then it beckoned me with its head. Now, I was no master at interpreting gestures, but I had a pretty strong feeling that head wanted me to come out. I didn't trust it, I mean, who in their right minds, surrounded by killer androids, would trust an android head?! That being said, I considered my options and weighed whether it'd be better to stay where I was or come out. It was like choosing between safety or trust. Like contemplating whether or not you should answer the door, even though it's the middle of the night, and whoever's knocking is probably holding a chainsaw, ready to kill you, or just stay in your comfy bed. Clearly, the answer is pretty obvious which option one should take. I'm a dim lightbulb, as I've said before. So it's only natural I made the stupid choice.  
  
    Poking out my head, I made sure I was in no danger before I quietly crawled out from under the desk. I looked back up. The head was still up there. I noticed that it was suspended up there by a bunch of random, tangled up coils. Somewhere along that mess, I swore I saw a dash of pink. Turning my attention back to the head, I took in its appearance. There wasn't much to say about it, except that it was deathly pale, had clown make-up just like the Toys, one golden eye, and a pair of fox ears on top of its head. The head was pretty tattered, but the fox ears made it look a bit more adorable and slightly comical.  
  
    The head looked at me for a moment, before it turned its attention to the office, and after some observing, slithered along the ceiling, and silently exited. I was confused. But glad. Slightly- no; really confused, I sat down in the chair, and returned to the tablet, my mind lingering on the strange, broken android.  
  
  
  
  
    "Ah, that? That's Mangle. There's a great controversy what animal it was supposed to be, and what gender it is. Its taken a liking to Jeremy and must've found you while looking for him," was Fritz's nonchalant, calm reply after I described the visit I received last night. I was confused when I heard that.  
  
    "What do you mean? Is 'Mangle' used to Jeremy coming on this shift?" I asked, but Fritz shook his head.  
  
    "No. There are two offices. Did I not tell you that?" I shook my head in response. "Ah. That makes more sense. Well, there are. Last night, Jeremy was working the same as you, but in the other office. Mangle was aware Jeremy was there, so I guess he went out to see which office he was in. He's used to seeing me, Indigo, and Scott, but not you. He must've gotten curious to see a new face," Fritz went on to say how Indigo received many visits from Mangle when he first started working here. I waited until he was done talking to ask him if Jeremy was gonna show up since he had worked the same shift as I. Fritz shrugged and replied with a "depends on how long Mangle stops smothering him." I was a bit confused by that, but I didn't know what else to say, so I just sat there awkwardly.  
  
    Five to ten minutes later, I had kept myself preoccupied watching the androids go about their business when a young man made his way over to Fritz and I's table. I hadn't seen Scott or Jeremy yet, and since Scott was in the hospital, I safely assumed he was Jeremy. From the looks of it, he wasn't much older than I was. His hair was blonde and bit shorter and more tidy than mine. He quickly seated himself, and his eyes were darting everywhere.  
  
    "Jeremy, you need to calm down. They won't attack after 12," Fritz suddenly spoke, which took me off guard. I jumped a little. Fritz shook his head. With a mutter, he added, "You're both so jumpy."  
  
    The blonde glared at Fritz, before turning his attention to me. He looked me over for a moment, then looked me straight in the eyes.  
  
    "You're, uh, Mike... Schmidt, right...?" He asked me. I nodded, before replying.  
  
    "And I'm guessing your Jeremy, right?" I asked, and he nodded.  
  
    "Sorry for not being there on your first day. Some personal stuff came up. And please don't tell me you hold a grudge against Fritz..." Jeremy's voice trailed off, and he looked pretty fearful, making me wonder what happened to have caused him to ask this question.  
  
    "Um, it's alright. And, no, I don't. Fritz isn't that bad," I replied, as Jeremy let out a sigh of relief. I made a quick glance over at Fritz, and he was busy on his phone, ignoring us.  
  
    "Oh my gosh, THANK YOU. Whenever someone gets pissed off due to Fritz's horrible attitude, I am the one to have to deal with it," Jeremy exclaimed, relieved. I wasn't sure what to say, so I didn't say anything. Jeremy continued, "I don't know how, but Fritz's no-shits-given attitude really annoys others whenever they try to ask him a question. I guess it's because he just shrugs it off, but either way, it's a bother to deal with."  
  
    "Oh. Um, I feel sorry for you, in that case. But, yeah. Fritz isn't too bad, once I got used to him, that is. He is a bit of a jerk, but his heart is in the right place," I replied with a shrug. Jeremy smiled when I said that. He said that very few were actually able to see that in Fritz, due to his attitude. Shocker. Jeremy and I continued to chat; mainly discussing trivial things. Cinnamon noticed us and used her lunch break to pop in and hijack the conversation. Fritz completely ignored all of us, not once looking up from his phone. I tried asking the two about the Toys, but they said it be best they told me when we weren't anywhere near the androids. I tried asking them more questions but was answered with the same response. Eventually, I decided to drop it and went back to chatting over random subjects. Something kept eating away at me, though, but I wasn't sure what it was. Something felt really off, I just forgot what. I wasn't sure why, but I had a feeling it had something to do with the office. Since I was having a good time, I decided to just shrug it off. Boy, had I known what would've happened if I did that, I would've never done it.


	7. Mechanical Heart, Real Love. -7-

    "So then, I tell her to find somewhere comfy for her to sleep on because I only had one bed at the time. Naturally, I thought she'd choose the couch, or maybe even my bed. But do you know where she chooses?" I asked. Cinnamon and Jeremy were leaning close to me, eager to listen. Somewhere along our conversation, I brought up Willow, and I started to talk about her. Then we started sharing the horrors we experienced during certain times of our life, and we all laughed at each other's story. It was my turn again, and I had some good ones involving Willow. Fritz concentrated on his phone, but I had a feeling he was listening too.  
  
    "Where? Where does she choose?" Cinnamon almost squeals, so energized with excitement. I grin at them, telling them to guess.  
  
    "The window? No wait; a spot under the window?" Jeremy suggests. I shake my head, telling him to try again.  
  
    "A pile of your laundry? Your desk? Under your bed?" Cinnamon somehow managed to say all in one breath. Amazing. I shook my head again. The two immediately started to pester me to tell them.  
  
    "Alright, alright! So, you guys ready to laugh at my expense?" They nodded, so I continued. "Alright; so she chooses to sleep..." I paused for dramatic effect, and to increase the anticipation. "On the fridge! And I tell her 'No, you can't sleep on the fridge! You can't even get up there!' so she said 'I can! Watch me!' And then she hops onto the stove, then leaps onto the fridge! She was celebrating her moment of victory, when she suddenly slipped to the side, and nearly fell off. In an attempt to catch herself, she GRABS the top of the fridge, but she's already falling off, so she ends up taking the fridge down with her! And I was trying to catch her because I thought she was gonna fall! But at the very last moment, she lets go of the fridge, and then pushes ME to the fridge! Apparently, she thought that I would be able to support the fridge and push it back up. BUT, since I was caught off guard, I didn't have enough time to react, so the next thing I knew, I was under the fridge! I expected Willow to call for help, but do you know what she does?!"  
  
    "WHAT?! WHAT?!" Jeremy and Cinnamon cried, partly exhausted from laughing their ass off.  
  
    "She runs around the kitchen area, screaming 'HELP! HELP! I'VE FALLEN AND CAN'T GET UP! HELP! I'M TRAPPED! HELP ME! HELP MEEEE!!!!' and her cats are following her example and scrambling all over the room and yowling. And I am stuck, under the fridge, wondering what sort of idiot did I pick up from the streets. And after about five or seven minutes, the landlord, my cousin, BREAKS down the door, and he's shrieking 'Where's the trouble?! Where's the trouble?! Who needs help?! What's going on?!' and he knows that was my room, and he saw Willow, and was like, 'Intruder! I have an intruder! Someone call the police!' then he gets all into attack mode, and the cats sensed that he was gonna hurt Willow, so they all pounced him. And Willow freaks our even MORE, and she's running around like a headless chicken, squealing that she's under attack. And amidst all that chaos, I am STILL under that fridge, wondering if she was gonna cause even more trouble like that. THEN, the scaredy-cat Stacey accidentally clawed Henry. There was a little bit of blood, but it was enough to make her faint. Suddenly, there are fur-balls just zipping about the house, going from here to there, like crazed versions of missiles, and they're just everywhere because they were worried about Stacey, but didn't know what to do. And seeing her cats in such a crazed state made Willow scream to the point where I think she broke the sound barrier. And that made Henry freak out because he hates high pitched sounds. So he just dashes off somewhere to hide from her screams, and it just so happens it was the kitchen area. And when he sees me, he's like 'Dude! There's a random girl and a bunch of cats in your house, and they're all freaking out, and they're acting weird, and- wait, why are you trapped under the fridge?' and I was like 'Just get this off me, and then ask me questions!' so he gets it off me, but the cats have regained their senses by then, and they thought that Henry was the reason Stacey fainted, so they all pounce him AGAIN! His allergies start acting up, and he's sneezing, his eyes are watering, and he's screeching at me, telling me to get these cats off him! So I call for Willow, and she's able to calm them down, and Stacey's woken up, and a few minutes later, everything's all calm and peaceful. So Henry turns to me, and asks 'So what just happened, and how did it start?' And I look at him and say, 'Henry if I told you, you would not believe me.' And Henry's all like 'Try me.' So I replied with an 'It all started when I tell Willow she can't sleep on the fridge.' And Henry just looks at me as though I was insane." I finish up, as Cinnamon and Jeremy are howling with laughter. I was glad they enjoyed that story. Just thinking about that certain event made my ears hurt, because I could vaguely hear Willow's screams echoing in my head.  
  
    "Okay! Okay! That was a great one, Mike! It's my turn now!" Cinnamon giggled, as she dove into the time she showed up to work wearing the wrong shirt, because it looked like her uniform shirt, and how nobody told her until Chica pointed it out. Jeremy and I had a good chuckle at that. We continued exchanging stories until I realized how much time had passed, and I scrambled to get home. FAST.  
  
  
  
  
    "Mike?"  
  
    "No. Please no. If it isn't good news; no."  
  
    "Sorry. I'm gonna have to tell you anyway."  
  
    "Ugh," I groaned, already feeling a headache creeping up. "Alright, get on with it cuz."  
  
    Henry gives me one more worried look before he starts to speak. "Well, it's about the damage Willow and the cats caused."  
  
    I groaned. Anything that involved Willow and/or the cats was never bad news. It was HORRIBLE NEWS.  
  
    "You see, I was able to call in some people to fix most of the appliances and what not, but you can't go in while they're busy working because they're going to spray some stuff to get rid of the bacteria they found once they're done, and I don't have any open rooms, and as much as I love you as my cousin, I really can't let Willow bring her cats into my apartment room, knowing that if I invite you, Willow's going to come along, and she'll bring her cats." Henry paused, awkwardly rubbing his neck. "I have a major cat allergy, and well, you know what I'm trying to say?" I nodded. I knew full well what he meant. It reminded me of what my mom said the last day I lived in her house, only she said it upfront and straightforward, unlike Henry, who was trying to be polite by beating around the bush.  
  
    "Yeah. Yeah, I get you," I reply, my throat dry. Henry nods, and sort of stands there. He looked pretty guilty, and it was kind of obvious why.  
  
    "It's... it's nothing personal, it's just... I really can't... I... can call Hel over, I-I'm sure she won't mind you staying over at her place... um..." Henry trailed off, clearly unsure what to say. I force the fakest smile I can.  
  
    "Relax, I don't blame you. Besides, I don't want to burden Hel with Willow's cats. I'll just try and find somewhere else to stay," I reassure Henry. He nods, before lowering his gaze, avoiding eye contact with me.  
  
    "Are... are you sure? I know Hel, and she's an animal person, I'm sure she'd be delighted!" Henry reasoned. I shook my head, telling him that I'd only resort to that if I had no other choice. Hel was Henry's older sister, and she was a sweet gal, endlessly patient, sensitive, and could easily bend her needs and schedule to fit those of other's. I really didn't want to be a burden on her, because as much as an animal person she was, she was human. And humans had their limits. I didn't want her to reach hers because of me.  
  
    Waving goodbye to Henry, I set off to find Willow and her cats. It wasn't that hard since their "secret" headquarters was just a small group of large trees that just so happened to be near the apartments. Making my way over, it was to no surprise that I heard a familiar voice and meowing as I neared it.  
  
    "Our next mission: steal all the fish we can find! I am sure that there is plenty of fish in the river, and since we are wild animals, we'll catch 'em, no biggie!" Cinnamon cheered, followed by a chorus of meows and purrs. Quietly, I gently pushed the small branches aside and found Cinnamon and her cats gathered in the small clearing. She noticed me right away.  
  
    "Oh hey, Mike! The cats and I were just about to raid the river! Wanna join?" Cinnamon chirped.  
  
    "I'll pass, thanks. Just came to tell you that we can't go back to live in the apartments for a temporary amount of time. Workers who came to repair the damage are spraying some chemicals to kill bacteria, and it wouldn't be safe if we breathed it in. Henry doesn't have any open rooms we can reside in, so yeah. I'm gonna try and see if I can get one of my friends to let us stay with them for a while. Until then, we're stuck out here." I replied. Cinnamon shrugged, saying that she was okay with everything. It was to be expected since she grew up on the streets until I took her in. I told her I'd be down at the park if she needed me.  
  
  
  
  
    Making my way uphill, it was a bit of a long walk. Usually, I would go to the park the other way, but I came this way instead, the hilly way. The other way was downhill, and I usually cut through the park as a shortcut back to the apartment complex, after running small errands. Mostly after my first job, though. Speaking of which, I had a shift later today in the late afternoon. I still had a couple more hours to kill, though. So I decided to hang out in the park. Hardly anyone was ever in the park, making it even more tranquil and relaxing. But I wasn't here to chill. Ironically, the service out here was great. Not sure why, but it was great.  
  
    Seating myself on the nearest bench, I pulled my phone out. Never left home without it. Swiping, I quickly found the messaging app and entered Cinnamon's number into the message thingy. Cinnamon, Jeremy, and I exchanged phone numbers during our chat. Jeremy told me he'd text me Fritz's number later. Tapping the screen, it was kinda hard, but I was able to send Cinnamon some texts.  
  
    >Hi Cinnamon<  
    >It is me Mike<  
    >This sudden but<  
    >can I stay at your place for a while?<  
    >i can't go back to my place because of a little incident<  
    >It has to do with Willow<  
    >Just asking, thanks<  
    >Please reply ASAP<  
  
    It was difficult since I was used to using the calling function, not the texting function. Henry gave me this phone so I could stay in contact with him in case something happened. If you ask me, it was another prank of his to troll me digitally. I think he hacked it before he gave it to me because for some reason I can't change that horrible screensaver. That one with the classic troll face on it. I'm pretty sure he's behind it. Plus my contacts name's have been changed to weird things. For example, Henry Swanson changed to The Most Awesome Guy Ever. And Cassidy "Cinnamon" Flecherling changed to Who Is This Weirdo. I have absolutely no doubt that Henry is somehow controlling my phone.  
  
    My phone made a "BING!" sound almost right after I had sent that last text, so I was caught off-guard, and nearly dropped my phone as I was putting it away. Fumbling for a moment, I turned on my phone to check the texts. Apparently, she had texted me right back almost instantly.  
  
    >HI MIKE<  
    >sorry<  
    >caps lock<  
    >yeah<  
    >you can stay<  
    >the more the married<  
    >merrier<  
    >stupid autocorrect<  
    >i can't wait to meet willow<  
    >she sounds interesting<  
    >do her cats need to come along<  
    >i don't mind if they do<  
    >they sound interesting<  
    >too<  
  
    I smiled to myself as I read Cinnamon's replies. She was a really reliable friend. She had her quirks, but it was all good. Getting up, I made my way back to Willow's little spot, so I could tell her the news. Nearing the area once more, I heard her yelling again.  
  
    "YOU SEE! YOU SEE! WE WILL NEVER GO HUNGRY AGAIN IF WE ALL PITCH IN! JUST SEE HOW MUCH ONE CAT CAUGHT! AND HOW MUCH I CAUGHT! WE'RE GONNA BE RICH! WOOHOO!" As you usual, her screeches were followed by a chorus of cat cheers. Which sounded an awful lot like screeching. Gently pushing the branches aside, I saw the cats forming a small ring, with Willow standing in the middle. To the side was what seemed to be the source of their squeals. Two small fish. They were tossed together, and they were pretty small. My guess was that it came from the ponds near the park. They always had fish in them, along with ducks and geese. Lots of fish swam in those ponds.  
  
    "Ahem. Willow? Just came to tell you that my friend is letting us stay over at her place. You know what that means, correct?" I asked Willow. She nodded cheerfully. She had that mischievous glint in her eyes again, so I knew her response was not going to be what I wanted to hear.  
  
    "Yup! That means the cats and I can steal her fish! And she'll become the next victim for my prank!!" Willow chirped. I crossed my arms. I just looked at her, disappointed.  
  
    " _No_." Willow tilted her head back, as though she was thinking intently. Then she snapped her fingers, as a big smile spread across her face. I could almost see the big lightbulb over her head.  
  
    "Oh! Oh! The cats and I hack into her phone and start changing her contact's names!" She squealed excitedly. I raised a brow. Suddenly, a whole lot just made sense.  
  
    "So  _that's_ who messed with my contacts," I muttered. Willow just smiled sheepishly. Then she giggled cheerfully. Then she smiled again. Clearly, she wasn't going to say what I wanted to hear. And she was doing it on purpose. Henry has been teaching her too much. And too well. Shaking my head, I knew what I had to next. Teach her and the cats decent manners. That's what I did for the next few hours. Willow and the cats kept interrupting me to ask questions. I didn't even understand what the cats were trying to ask me, so after the fiftieth time, I gave up trying to figure it out. When I realized my afternoon shift was creeping up on me, I told Willow to stay out of trouble as I rushed off to work. I decided to introduce her to Cinnamon after work.  
  
  
  
  
    "Ah! There you are, Mike! Could you take these to the manager? You're late, but I'll put you down as on-time if you take the paperwork over to them," Annie said all in one breath. She was in a hurry, as she always was. She had a high position in the kitchen, which was tiring work, from what I could see.  
  
    "Um, sure," I reply, my mind still in a bit of a daze from making a mad dash to here. Annie was pretty much the reason why I was able to keep my job at the restaurant. Annie and I had this thing going on. Whenever something happened, Annie always vouched for me. In return, I always worked as hard as I could under her.  
  
    I scurried down the hall, careful not to bump into others because this was a narrow hallway. At the end of the hall was the manager's office. Opening the door, the office was empty, so I placed the bundle of papers on the desk and quickly went back to the kitchen. We never knocked, because the manager would always be too busy to answer, so we all got used to just opening the door.  
  
    Upon reaching the kitchen, Annie promptly placed my uniform in my hands, and I went to the bathroom to quickly change. Usually, I'd get here early and change, but I was a bit late, so I had to change hastily. Unless you were anything but the kitchen staff, you could take your uniform home. If you were the kitchen staff, they'd rather know that the uniforms are safe in their hands. That's mainly because of previous incidents regarding kitchen staff being careless and ruining their uniforms. I was not one of them, thankfully.  
  
    Racing out, I reached the kitchen again. There, I grabbed a notebook, a pencil, a bundle of menus, and sped off to start my duties as a waiter. It wasn't the best job, but the pay was decent, and the head of the kitchen staff, Annie, was nice. The job had its perks and downsides. I didn't really mind, because I didn't risk my life in this job.


	8. Mechanical Heart, Real Love. -8-

    Constantly entering and exiting the kitchen, the rest of the shift went by in a breeze. A couple of hours later, my shift was over. Bidding goodbye to Annie and the others, I hopped off to find Willow. It was still light out, so I had time to round up Willow and her cats, then go to Cinnamon's place.  
  
  
  
  
    After a couple of mishaps, I was able to "tame" Willow; not her cats, but Willow. Finally, I picked up Stacey, and the other small cats, and set off to Cinnamon's house. She had texted me the address, and it wasn't that far of a walk, surprisingly. It was just a couple of streets, and a few turns away. Of course, it wouldn't have been a problem if Willow didn't keep wandering off, and I had to chase after her. What should've been a ten to fifteen walk turned into an hour and possibly a half walk because of Willow's curiosity.  
  
    "Remember Willow; I need you and your kitties to behave while we're at my friend's house, okay?" I re-confirmed with Willow, who was strangely drawn to the birds sitting on the power line.  
  
    "Okie," She replied, but I doubt she actually had heard me. Shaking my head, I hoped that she'd be on her best behavior until we got back to our apartment. The cats were a different story, and I didn't want to deal with them until the time came. We were nearing the house, and it was actually really nice looking. The place looked well taken care of, though a bit plain. There was a small garden out front and a bird bath, and that was pretty much it.  
  
    Stepping onto the front porch, I raised my hand to knock when the door flung open, and I was suddenly pulled inside.  
  
    "EEEEEE!!!! Mike! I saw you coming up! I'm so excited!" Cinnamon squealed at the top of her lungs, and I swore I nearly went deaf from that. She then gave me a big, suffocating hug.  
  
    "Erk! Cinnamon! Need- to breathe!" Was all I could choke out because her hug really was suffocating me. She looked mild, but she had one STRONG grip. She instantly let me go, then her attention immediately switched to Willow and her cats.  
  
    "Oh my gosh! Is that Willow? And her infamous cats?" Cinnamon chirped happily. I nodded, still trying to catch my breath. Willow just gave Cinnamon a cold look, and for a moment, I thought I saw something ominous flicker onto Cinnamon's expression. It was gone in an instant, and I wondered if I just imagined it.  
  
    "Hi," Willow greeted icily, her voice was devoid of almost any emotion. Since my breathing steadied, I decided to interrupt before anything happened.  
  
    "Um, Willow, why not you and the cats go chase the birds outside?" They were gone in an instant. Turning my attention back to Cinnamon, I hurriedly apologized. "Er, sorry about Willow. She can be pretty cold to other until she's deemed them as a friend. So, uh, I hope you don't mind her behavior for the time being."  
  
    "Nope! I do mind, but since she's your friend, I'll put up with it for you," Cinnamon replied, a bright smile had lit up her face. "Anything for my friends!" As though she were trying to completely make her point, she pulled me into yet another crushing hug.  
  
    "Ack! Cinnamon!"  
  
  
  
  
    I lay on the couch. I didn't mind sleeping on the couch. Cinnamon only had one guest room, and the bed wasn't big enough for me, Willow, and her cats. Cinnamon offered her bed to me, but I declined, because it would be pretty rude to do that to my host, plus she was a lady. A guy's gotta have chivalry, especially when they're friend and host is gracious enough to put up with Willow's rude behavior. I wished Willow could have better manners. Then again, considering the previous lifestyle she told me about, it was only natural she wanted to let the crazy loose. She had absurd stepparents, who forced her to act all ladylike, and just one slip up would cause them to flip out and lose their shit. Apparently, she had enough of it, so she ran away from there, and the cats accepted her as one of their own. Still, she should at least have the decency to be nice when she was a guest, like now.  
  
    I made a mental note to remind her to be more polite, tomorrow. We were the guests, after all. For now, I needed some rest. Turning so I faced the inner part of the couch, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep at some point.  
  
  
  
  
    "What?! How's it my fault?!"  
  
    "Your cat knocked it over!"  
  
    "That's because you stepped on its tail!"   
      
    I woke up to the sound of two girls yelling at each other. Stretching, I sat up and went to see what was going on. Following the source, I came upon the kitchen, where Cinnamon, Willow, and her cats were. At the girl's feet was a broken vase, with a mess of flowers and water. I came to the conclusion that they were blaming each other for it.  
  
    "Okay, okay, both of you calm down. Now, can someone explain why you two are at each other's throats?" I cut in because those two looked rather cross with each other. Willow started first.  
  
    "It was her fault! The cats and I came in to look for fish, when  _SHE_ stepped on Orange's tail, making him hit the table, and the vase fell!" Willow hissed furiously. Cinnamon stamped her foot angrily when Willow said that.  
  
    "That's not true! That's not true! I was frying eggs when  _SHE_ and her cats came running in like the wind, and one of them bumped into me, and I accidentally stepped on its tail, and then it freaked out and ran straight into the table the vase was on, making it fall!" Cinnamon shrieked right back at Willow. Willow began screeching at that, and Cinnamon stuck her tongue out to mock her, making Willow scream even louder, and started jumping up and down! Then the two started squawking at each other like crazy. I forgot who said what because the noise gave me a headache.  
  
    "NO! NO! NO! NO! IT WAS HER! IT WAS HER!"  
  
    "NUH-UH! NUH-UH! NUH-UH! NUH-UH! LIES! ALL LIES!"  
  
    "DON'T LISTEN TO HER!"  
  
    "NOT MY FAULT! HER FAULT!"  
  
    "IT ISN'T! IT'S HER FAULT!"  
  
    "NO! NO! HER FAULT!"  
  
    "NOOOOO!  **HER FAULT! HER FAULT!** "  
  
    " **IT'S! HER! FAULT!!!!!!!** "   
  
    I sighed, closed my eyes, and wished it were all a crazy dream where I'd wake up, in my apartment, and Henry would be telling me to knock off the sleep-talking, and he'd have no idea who Willow is if I asked him where she was. But considering the screams, it was clear this was not a dream, and I really was stuck dealing with two ladies who weren't acting ladylike at all. Opening my eyes, I saw that Willow and Cinnamon were still shrieking and jumping, throwing huge fits over something so small. I began to question if staying over at Cinnamon's place,  _with_ Willow, was a good idea. Considering the current situation in front of me; probably not.  
  
    "Okay, you two. Calm down. It doesn't matter whose fault it is. Why don't you both get breakfast while I clean this mess?" I suggested, hoping that would make them quiet down. Willow sent Cinnamon a cold glare before she turned to leave. Cinnamon glared right back, then turned her attention to me.  
  
    "How 'bout I help you, Mike? You can go enjoy the eggs I cooked for you and your friend, while I clean it up," Cinnamon chirped. Apparently, Willow must've decided that everything she did was a competition because suddenly she whirled around and offered to clean up.  
  
    "You and your co-worker can go eat breakfast, the cats and I'll clean up the mess," Willow insisted. Cinnamon glared at her, shaking her head.  
  
    "Nuh-uh! I offered  _first_ ; you and Mike go eat breakfast," Cinnamon declared, clearly not wanting Willow to do it. Willow scowled, and Cinnamon heatedly glared. Now, I don't understand girls, and I certainly don't intend to understand them anytime soon. But from the things I've heard and the books I read, I knew that things were going to escalate quickly if someone didn't intervene. I was the only other person there, so I had to be the one to step in.  
  
    "Girls! Please! Calm down! Look, I think it'd be best if I just cleaned it up on my own. Why not you both eat breakfast, and not worry about this?" I proposed, hopeful because I wasn't sure whether or not I had said the right thing. The two girls gave each other one more piercing look before they reluctantly agreed, and went separate ways. I let out a sigh of relief, glad that had made the two back off from each other. Considering their attitudes towards each other, it was clear they both weren't gonna get along anytime soon. Which was bad, because who knew how long it'd take before Willow and I could return to our cozy apartment. Even if the wait was short, I had a good feeling that more sparks could go flying between the two, which would quickly evolve into roaring fires, in just one day; much less a couple of days. And I honestly wasn't sure how long I could intervene before things got out of hand.  
  
    "Shit! I should think about those things when the time comes. For now, I have to clean up this mess they created," I muttered to myself as I grabbed a paper towel and a dish rag, along with a bag to temporarily hold the flowers. As I was cleaning, I heard another ruckus, this time coming from outside, in what I assumed was the backyard.  
  
    "What are you talking about?! I did not do it!"  
  
    "Yeah you did! I saw you!"  
  
    "Stop accusing me!"  
  
    "I'm not accusing!"  
  
    "Then what are you doing?!"  
  
    "Stating a fact!"  
  
    "BITCH!"  
  
    "WHORE!"  
  
    I groaned. This was going to be a long, long morning.  
  
  
  
  
   "Mike?" I looked up. Willow was standing in the doorway, pouting.  
  
    "Yes?"  
  
    "Why can't I stay with Henry? He's nice. Cinnamon isn't." I sighed at that. I knew she was going to ask that at some point.  
  
    "Henry's busy, and he doesn't have time to take care of you and your cats. Besides, you know he's allergic. And, Henry has an inspection today,"  I replied, hoping she'd understand. But, she didn't. She just gave me a questioning look.  
  
    "So?"  
  
    "So your cats can't be there. Or you. Mainly the cats, though," I answered. I knew she was going to ask me why, so I continued. "The apartments are designated pet-free, which means no animals allowed. So, your cats can't be there. If the people who are inspecting the place find one animal, they will take the apartments away from Henry. Meaning, he won't own them anymore. And if you're wondering why YOU aren't allowed, well, you have a big mouth. And you are very likely to start going on how you live in the apartments and bring cats into there."  
  
    Willow looked very offended when I said she had a big mouth. She ran to the nearest mirror and started screeching her mouth wasn't big. I should've known she wouldn't have understood that expression. I had to explain to her what it meant to have a big mouth, then re-explain why she and her cats weren't allowed because she had gotten distracted while I was explaining. After that, she ran off. A racket caused by arguing quickly followed.  
  
  
  
  
    "What is it now?" I asked the two raging girls, one on each side. They were having yet another argument. It wasn't even noon, yet here I was, stuck in between two bickering girls, who were having a fierce argument. I don't know what the current number of arguments was; I stopped counting after they hit fifty.  
  
    Willow pointed her finger at Cinnamon and hissed that she was the one who broke it. Cinnamon screeched that it was Willow. Then the two started their screaming again. In all honesty, I had no idea what they were yelling about. All I knew was that they were arguing, and I was trying to calm them down. That was pretty much all I knew. In fact, that's what I've been doing that whole morning. It seemed as though their arguing was endless. It was as though one would start less than a minute after I stopped one. Knowing that the bickering was going to continue on until Willow and I left, I did my best to try and keep things under control. I started by saying the same thing that I had been saying all morning long.  
  
    "Okay, okay, let's try to sort matters out in a civilized, peaceful, non-violent manner," I stated, the words feeling numb on my tongue from saying the same phrase over and over. As usual, both girls immediately began blaming the other.  _This_  is what I had to deal with the entire day. Barely got a break. Ever. It was extremely tiresome.  
  
  
  
  
    A couple of hours later, I was certainly pleased when I received a text from Jeremy, saying that Indigo had called in sick, so I was going to replace him for tonight's shift. I was working with Fritz tonight, which wouldn't be that bad.  
  
    I quickly changed into my uniform, then I made sure that the girls were both in bed, which, thankfully, they were. If they weren't, I probably had to stay to make sure no fight broke out between the two.  
  
    Slipping on a jacket, I quietly left the house, not wanting to wake them up. Then I dashed out into the chilly air, with the moon shining brightly, making it easier to see where I was going in the dark.  
  
  
  
  
    "Yes! Narrowly avoided them!" I praised myself, as I sat down into the rickety old chair. I had been a little late, so I had to speed through the halls without getting caught. I was in the same office as usual, but I had a shift tomorrow where I'd be in the other office. Jeremy told me that yesterday, where he, Cinnamon, Fritz, and I had been gathered at the table, joking and laughing together. Except for Fritz, he chose not to participate. I smiled to myself as I picked up the tablet.  _Man,_ I mused silently,  _Yesterday sure felt like ages ago.  
  
_     Flicking through the cameras, as I had every other night, nothing big happened, aside from constant visits from the android they called Mangle. It really was curious and had a pretty harmless demeanor. Its appearance was a different story, though.  
  
  
  
  
        "Survived another night! Yay me!" I cheered, followed by a tired yawn. Mediating between two girls and working the graveyard shift can really deplete one's energy. Stretching, I bid goodbye to the cupcake and fan for no reason in particular. Then I headed to the main area of the restaurant to meet up with Fritz. Cinnamon didn't have a shift today, because it was Saturday. She worked on other days.  
  
    Spotting Fritz, and surprisingly Jeremy, I headed over to their table. As I seated myself, Jeremy handed me something.  
  
    "Here ya go, Mike. It's your paycheck," Jeremy added, noticing the look of confusion on my face.  
  
    "Ah. So, um, is that why you guys wanted to see me?" Jeremy nodded when Fritz suddenly cut in.  
  
    "The company wants us to be on alert. Somebody recently sabotaged one of the stage lights. Nearly fell on someone yesterday. The company wants us to report all suspicious activity to the manager," Fritz stated plainly, as though it were no big deal. Jeremy rolled his eyes.  
  
    "Yeah. Namely, the person who was nearly crushed was Fritz. Indigo told me. Scary, isn't it?" Jeremy added on, with a small shiver. I nodded. I wasn't sure what to say, and Fritz wasn't the type to accept other's pity. So I quietly sat there as Fritz gave me his number, then said that was it.  
  
    Leaving the building, the air was crisp and cool as I stepped through the front doors. It was still morning, so I decided to hurry on back to Cinnamon's place. As I did so, I slowed down so I could look at the check that was still in my hands. The pay was meager, but it was better than nothing.  _Still,_ I thought to myself, as I tucked the check into my pocket,  _They could at least give us more than just minimal pay. I mean, we risk our necks just to watch over their androids. Literally._  
  
   The air was crisp, fresh, and cool. It gave out the something-good-is-gonna-happen-today feeling. And it put me in a great mood. Of course, I had to leave the mood at the front steps of Cinnamon's house, because I'm sure you can guess what I came back to.  
  
    "Snob!"  
  
    "Dimwit!"


	9. Mechanical Heart, Real Love. -9-

    "No! You're writing it wrong!"  
  
    "What do you mean?!"  
  
    "You have to include the cats' part too!"  
  
    "WHAT?! They're just cats!"  
  
    "They're not!"  
  
    That was what I came back to from work. The two girls were arguing again. That is pretty much what I dealt with for the next two days. The third day was different, though.   
  
    Coming back from my shift, I overheard the girls squabbling once more. I thought I knew what to expect. I  _thought_. Before I could even take off my jacket, they both spotted me and told me to hurry over. Since I didn't know what was going on, I just went over.  
  
    The girls were both standing over a table, with a piece of paper on the table. They both started talking at once.  
  
    "...I think she should..."  
  
    "...She's lying when she said..."  
  
    "Woah! Slow down, and talk one at a time, please," I interrupted, a bit taken aback. Willow immediately insisted that Cinnamon go first. So she did.  
  
    "We're making a truce, Mike! But we're having trouble because we aren't sure whether or not we should or should not let the cats have their say in it. I mean, they're cats!" Cinnamon cried out, as Willow shook her head.  
  
    "I say we let them. They're my friends! And friends should let friends have a say in it," Willow argued, which, in my opinion, was actually a pretty good point. Then the two started squabbling over that again.  
  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
    Mike looked over at Ronnie, who had pulled up a chair at one point. Ronnie was eagerly looking at his papa.  
  
    "And then what? And then what?" Ronnie cooed enthusiastically, wanting his papa to continue.  
  
    "And then I helped them solve their dispute, and we fixed out the truce. I just wish I had known earlier why they created that truce," Mike stated plainly, as Ronnie's expression suddenly changed to disappointment.  
  
    "That's it? That's the end?" He moaned, frustrated at the strange ending. Mike just looked at him.  
  
    "I didn't say that, now, did I?" Mike asked his son, who was sulking.  
  
    "Well, you paused!"  
  
    "So? I want a break. I'll continue later," Mike replied, shrugging. Ronnie hopped to his feet as soon as his father said that.  
  
    "Wait! Don't stop there! That's a horrible way to stop a story! You can't stop there!" Ronnie exclaimed, panicking. He was really desperate to hear the rest of it. Mike just gave him a half-smile, shrugged, and began to walk off. Ronnie grabbed his arm, preventing him from leaving.  
  
    "NO! Don't go! Continue!" Ronnie yelled as Mike struggled against his grip. He saw it was pointless, though, so he stopped and looked at Ronnie.  
  
    "Okay, how about this: You let me go, so I can take a break, then I'll continue the story. How's that sound?" Mike reasoned. Ronnie tilted his head, pondering it over, then nodded, releasing his father's arm. Mike was gone in an instant. He came back a couple minutes later.  
  
    "I'm back Ronnie. Ready to hear the rest?" Mike asked. Ronnie nodded vigorously, so Mike continued.  
  
    "Well, then. I thought that the treaty was going to end almost all my troubles involving them. The truce ended their disputes, but then new problems appeared. Mainly because after they stopped fighting against each other, they teamed up to prank me. I can't tell you how many times I woke up to find make-up all over my face. Mascara, lip gloss, blush, eyeshadow, everything. It really diminished my dignity as a man."  
  
    Ronnie snickered as Mike paused, this time to breathe a bit, then he continued. "So, I hope you don't mind if I time skip. All the way to, I don't know, about a month later. I think it was a month later. But nothing major happens in the time I'm gonna skip, so don't worry about missing anything important. But yeah, one month later, I was back in my apartment, Willow matured just enough to keep her and her cats' messes to a minimum, and I had gotten used to barely making it to my job on time, because like I said; Willow and her cats broke my alarm clock. And I was too busy worrying about other stuff that was more important than an alarm clock. But there I was, living my normal life while working an unusual job. I had just gotten back from work, hammer in one hand, and my paycheck in the other...  
  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
    It was a very pleasant day, and not only did I get my paycheck, but I also got my hammer back. Indigo said his house was a mess, and he accidentally lost it in there. That was why it took so long for him to return it. I didn't blame him; my apartment was a mess too. He said he found it a couple of weeks ago, but was a procrastinator, and kept putting off returning it. I could easily relate. I always waited 'til the last minute.  
  
    Today was a nice day. It was early morning, and winter was beginning to settle in, so it was colder than usual, but not that cold. I headed back to my apartments but knew not to expect Willow and her cats there. Apparently, Cinnamon could be very motherly. It was quite shocking. Then again, she was shocking. After the truce, the Cinnamon and Willow's relationship changed drastically. Cinnamon helped Willow mature more into a regular woman. She really helped Willow a whole lot. Cinnamon even managed to teach the cats how to behave. It was really great. Only downside? Cinnamon was a master prankster. Willow was a novice prankster. See where I'm going? Apparently, that was why the made the truce. So they could team up on pranking me. And others. Cinnamon even got the cats into it.  
  
    But yeah. Back to the subject. Willow matured enough to get a part-time job at the nearby animal shelter. Many times she took her cats with her to there. They, the cats, either frolicked with the other cats there or cared for them in a motherly fashion. It was amazing what an effect Cinnamon had on Willow and her cats. Every time I saw her, I'd keep her updated with how Willow and the cats are doing. When I told her how grown Willow had gotten, Cinnamon beamed with pride.  
  
    Speak of the devil, Cinnamon was standing in front of my apartment door. I waved and she immediately noticed and returned the gesture. Picking up the pace, I was at Cinnamon's side in almost an instant.  
  
    "Hey Cinnamon! What brings you here?" I ask her, as I unlock the door and invite her in. She scurries in without hesitation. As to be expected, because the only thing keeping her warm out there was her scarf. She didn't even have a jacket on. As soon as she was inside, Cinnamon immediately started her nonstop talking. Yup, after three weeks of molding Willow into a fine young woman, she still had that trait. I had gotten used to it, and it wasn't that bad. It was pretty much what made Cinnamon herself.  
  
    "Thanks Mike! Brrrr, I was cold out there. While I was out there, this dude kept looking at me. He didn't look directly at me, but I could tell he was watching me. He lingered out there until you came. Then he went inside one of the apartments. I don't think he meant any harm, though," Cinnamon yakked.  
  
    "Did he have pitch black hair, and entered the apartment second to the right?" I asked her. When she nodded, I knew who she was talking about.  
  
    "Then that was Henry Swanson," Cinnamon gave me a puzzled look, so I explained. "Henry's my cousin, and he's the landlord of the apartments. Plus, he and Willow recently started dating. They both liked each other for a while, but it wasn't until Henry asked Willow out that they got together. Henry was probably watching you as to make sure you weren't there to cause trouble. He cares greatly about his apartments."  
  
    Cinnamon, who was very expressive, immediately perked up. I almost saw that light bulb over her head.  
  
    "Ah! So HE'S Willow's boyfriend! Willow's told me so much about him!" Cinnamon excitedly squealed. She quickly saw my look of confusion, so she explained. "Willow and I have been texting through your phone! She really wants her own, and is saving up lot buy it! Last time, she told me she's three-quarters there, so I came to check on her current status."  
  
    I nodded. So Willow's been on my phone... I suddenly wondered how much of my privacy I had lost to Willow.  
  
    "Anyway, where is she?" Cinnamon asked as she began to curiously look around the place, poking at this and that. She had only been to our apartments a few times, and she was always very curious every time she visited.  
  
    "Ah... Willow's not here at the moment. She should be arriving in around, five, maybe ten minutes? She's at her job right now," I replied. A look of disappointment flashed over Cinnamon's face for a moment, but she quickly shook it off.  
  
    "Oh... well, at least I don't have long to wait!" She chirped, perking up instantly. Cinnamon threw herself onto one of the couches. Then she snuggled up with one of the blankets. Coincidentally, it was the one Willow had made. After she saw it in a craft book, she used up part of her's and my paycheck to afford the materials and made a blanket. It was surprisingly cozy if a bit too warm. After the short stay at Cinnamon's place, Willow really changed and started to become more determined whenever she worked for something. It was amazing, yes, but it was also scary.  
  
  
  
  
    Just as I had predicted, about ten minutes later, there was the sound of an energetic voice, mixed in with meowing of cats, arriving at the front door, meaning that Willow had just got home. She was pleasantly surprised to see Cinnamon there. In a way, Cinnamon had become her second mother. The two embraced and started chatting up a racket. I chose not to interrupt the two, so I decided to go out for some fresh air. It was a pleasant day, after all. The two girls had scurried off to Willow's little corner after they greeted each other. Made it easier for me to not interrupt them. Slipping my jacket on, I stepped out into the chilly winds and closed the door behind me.  
  
    Who did I not expect to find out there? Henry. I should've expected him, though. He strode over as soon as he caught sight of me.   
  
    "Hey cuz. How's life? Or should I say, how's love life?" I teased, knowing he'd be embarrassed. He blushed a bit at the second part.  
  
    "Shut up," He muttered, slightly turning his face away. I chuckled at that. "Anyway, who was that girl? She was standing in front of your door for a long time, but you seemed pretty familiar with you. She your girlfriend or something?"  
  
    "What?! Don't be dense! You'd know if I had a girlfriend or not!" I hissed back. All I could think of was what an idiot he was. You could say Willow was his spy who keeps him updated with every little thing I do. It was ridiculous. Henry didn't actually ask her to do that, though. It was mainly because Willow had a big mouth and couldn't keep anything a secret.  
  
    "Sorry. So, how's Willow recovering? Has she gotten over it yet? Last I mentioned it to her, she was still in denial," Henry replied, quickly changing the subject. It was just like him to do that.  
      
    "She's beginning to accept it. I think Stacey is taking it the hardest, though," I responded. Recently, one of Willow's cats, Orange, became roadkill. I knew it would happen eventually because Orange was so reckless. Of course, I didn't say that to her face. That would be plain cold. Willow and her cats flipped out when I told them.  
  
    "Why Stacey again? Oh yeah! Orange was like a mother to her, right?" Henry asked. I nodded back.  
  
    "Yup," Since the subject was making me uncomfortable, I decided to change it. "I heard Hel has twelve cats now?"  
  
    "Mm-hmm. She found them in a box, in the middle of the road, hence how she almost ran them over. There were eleven kittens in there, and Yarn seems to be taking them in as her kin."  
  
    "Hmm." Yarn was Hel's cat. She was just like her owner; calm, wise, patient, and very flexible to change. She also loves yarn. That's where she got her name. Hel once came over with Yarn, and Yarn actually put up with all of the nonsense Willow's cats gave her. Even when one of them scratched her ear so hard it bled. But it was on accident.  
  
    Unsure what else to say, Henry and I just stood there in silence. My mind wandered back to Hel. She had twelve cats, and ironically, was a dog person. Henry told me Hel used to have a loud little Yorkie who barked at Hel and followed her wherever she went. One day the vicious neighborhood dogs got to her Yorkie, and that was the last time they ever saw the Yorkie whole, and alive.  
  
    "Well!" I jumped, a bit startled by the sudden voice cutting through the quiet. "Time to go back. Hel's coming over again this week, and I gotta tidy up my place, or else she'll scold me like last time. Not fun, I tell you."  
  
    With that, Henry turned around and headed back to his room. I watched him, then decided to go back to my room. I didn't see Willow or Cinnamon, but I did hear them giggling in the kitchen. Ignoring the girls, I decided to go up to my room to avoid them. I knew from experience that when girls hid away and started giggling, it be best if you got out of there fast.  
  
    Making my way down the hall to my room, I stopped in front of my closet once I reached my destination. I had to put my hammer back, and deposit the check. Opening the closet, I was very satisfied to see none of my clothes were shredded up like cheese. Looking around, I poked through the boxes in the back, until I found the one to put my hammer in. I decided I'd label the boxes so I could keep better track of them. Later. Right now I had to stop by the bank.  __  
  
    Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! The distinct sound of eggs breaking reached my ears, mainly because I had left my door open.  
  
    "Sorry, Mike! There are no more eggs! We had a little accident involving certain cats!" A voice called out from the kitchen.  _Right,_ I mused to myself,  _Looks like I have to stop by the bank, AND the grocery store._ Just because Willow's messes were kept to a minimum, did not mean it caused me any less trouble.  
  
    Tossing on my jacket, I wrapped a scarf around my neck; Cinnamon had knit some for me and Willow, then headed out into the cold, while  _completely_ ignoring the huge raw egg mess next to and on the window, along with two girls who were readying applesauce to throw at it.  
  
  
  
  
    I came home to a quiet apartment. At first, I thought I was hearing things. But upon further listening, the apartment really was silent. It made me suspicious because when Cinnamon and Willow were together, tranquility was impossible. Then a thought crossed my mind. What if Cinnamon went home already? But seeing the polka-dotted purse hanging on the coatrack canceled that idea out. So why were they so quiet? That was what I kept asking myself. What was even weirder, was that I couldn't find any cats. Anywhere. Usually, one, maybe two, would be loafing around somewhere, or playing with a ball of yarn. But there were none. I checked everywhere.  
  
    Finally, I was stumped. This was strange. The quiet had become eerie, and I longed for the noise that always seemed to follow Willow everywhere. Then I realized I never checked my room. Hurrying down the hall, I skidded to a stop upon reaching my door, nearly running into it. I don't know why, but I just had this feeling that something wasn't right. At the time, I blamed it on the silence. The eerie, disturbing, silence.  
  
    Placing my ear up against the door, I listened for a sound. Nothing. My hand made its way down to the doorknob, but when I tried to turn it, I found it locked. Unfortunately, I didn't have the key to unlock the door. It was in my room. Stupid, I know. I was scared. The fear I felt at work, every night at Freddy's, in the cramped office, surrounded by killer androids, was  ** _nothing_**  compared to the fear I felt now. I closed my eyes and knocked. Once. Twice.  
  
    As I was about to knock a third time, I heard the door click. Someone was on the other side. Someone unlocked the door. Someone... was there. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I slowly but surely felt myself reaching for the knob again. It was as though I had lost control of my body. Like I was paralyzed, but my body kept moving.  
  
    Pushing the door open, I finally opened my eyes. I looked at the scene in front of me. I screamed. I fainted.


	10. Mechanical Heart, Real Love. -10-

    "...Mike...?" I groaned softly. My head was spinning, something felt REALLY wrong, and I kept hearing someone call my name.  
  
    "Mike!" There it was again.  
     
    "MIKE!" I tried to open my eyes. Big mistake. The light was blinding. My eyes shut immediately.  
  
    "Maybe you should turn the flashlight off."  
  
    "Good idea."   
  
    I tried again, and thankfully, there was no light. Blinking a few times, I sat up. I felt a hand supporting my back when I did so.  
  
    "Mike! Are you alright?!" Everything was blurry, so when I turned to look at the speaker, at first all I saw was a brown blob. When my vision finally cleared up, I no longer saw a blob. I saw Willow.  
  
    "Willow...?" I started, and then everything rushed back. "OH MY GOSH WILLOW! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" I screeched immediately. Willow just looked at me like I was crazy.  
  
    "Mike? Are you kidding me?! I SHOULD BE THE ONE ASKING YOU THAT!" Willow yelled back at me. In response, I returned that same "are you crazy?!" look.  
  
    "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Please, just give me a moment. Oh my gosh," I kept repeating that until I became aware of Cinnamon's presence. I gave her a blank look, then averted my attention back to Willow.  
  
    "It's just- when I opened the door- the house, it was too quiet, and, you... you... you were on the ground- and, and, the room it-... there was ribbon next you, and the room, oh my gosh, the room-"  
  
    "Whoa! Calm down, Mike! Take a deep breath," Cinnamon interrupted, as she helped me stand. Looking around, I realized that we were in the main room. I followed Cinnamon's instructions, took some deep breaths, and felt my nerves slowly relax.  
  
    "Thanks, Cinnamon. I needed that," I replied gratefully to her. I'd probably have been running around like a headless chicken if she didn't help me calm down.  
  
    "Okay, okay. So, answers first, then questions. No, wait; questions first, then answers. So! Willow! What were you doing in my room, first off?" I asked Willow, having quickly recovered from my moment of terror. She gave me a sheepish look upon being asked.  
  
    "Well, I was planning to give your room a makeover. That's why I had ribbons, bows, scissors, and some other little stuff," Willow shrugged, grinning. I glared at her. Then I remembered how I found her.  
  
    "So then why were you on the floor?"  
  
    "Dunno. I think I slipped on something, ribbon maybe, then I fell. I think something fell on my head. Must've been the paint can. I was holding it when I fell, and I believe I lost my grip on it when I fell. I think that's what happened at, least."  
  
    "Are you sure?"  
  
    "No." I looked at Willow, doubting her words. Then I turned to Cinnamon.  
  
    "And what caused you to come over? Unless you were in on the room thing with Willow," I asked, as she shook her head.  
  
    "Nope! I was in the kitchen when I heard you screech. All Willow told me was that she was planning a surprise for you in your room, and I was not to disturb her. So I just hung out in the kitchen," Cinnamon replied, calmly. I studied the two girls, too see if either were possibly lying. After a few moments, I got up and told them that I was going to go clean up the mess Willow left behind and that the two girls should probably find something useful to do. They went off to search for the cats.  
  
    Making my way down the narrow hall, I found myself in front of my room door once again. Although I knew Willow just had a little accident, there was something that was really bothering me. It was like an itch you couldn't reach. It was there, it bothered me, but I couldn't get rid of it.  
  
    I quickly shook off that uneasy feeling.  _Relax!_ I thought to myself,  _Willow just had an accident! It could've happened to anyone! Yeah, it could've happened to anyone! Now open that door!  
  
   _Reaching out slowly, I felt my fingers curl around the knob, the same way they did ten minutes ago. Gently pulling it, the door silently opened to reveal the messy room again, this time lacking a girl laying in the middle. Stepping in, I looked around. I didn't know where to start. Something was wrong. But I couldn't place my finger on it.  
  
    "Okay," I told myself, "Calm down. Calm down. Just, think back on what happened! Okay. So, I went to the bank. I deposited my... paycheck! Yes, I deposited my paycheck... then I went to the grocery store for eggs. Then... I came home. Then I found Willow- no, no, the apartment was quiet...? Yeah, it was quiet, then... I headed to my room, and I... opened... the... door..." My voice trailed off as I remembered something. Willow was passed out on the floor. Someone unlocked the door. It couldn't have been Willow... could it... no. It couldn't have been her. She would've been giggling when she unlocked the door, it would've been hard for her to contain her excitement. Besides, that wasn't her style of pranks. Usually, she was like Henry. She did something digitally. And whenever it wasn't digital, she would do something with her cats. Her cats... where were they, anyway?  
  
    I looked around my room again. My eyes landed on the window. It was wide open. Of course. I began to rummage around the room, to see what had been stolen. What had I been freaking out about? This wasn't the good, or safe, side of town. I was gonna get robbed at some point or another. It was lucky that Willow wasn't hurt when the robber broke in. I've heard how people killed others who could've been possible witnesses.  
  
    As I began to gather up all my clothes that had been tossed from my closet, I noticed something. It was on my work uniform. I arched a brow. It looked like a... note? It was kinda small. Picking it up, I held it very close. Even so, it was still difficult hard to see what was written on it.  
  
    Squinting, I tried to read the note.  _Mike. I am closer than you think. Since you are new to this, I'll try a different technique. STAY AWAY FROM THE SUPPLY CLOSET. This is your only notice. I don't want to go to extreme measures right away, but I will if you do not heed my warning. And here's a word of advice, for your own safety. Do not trust Cinnamon. She is a dangerous woman, so I worry for your friend with the cats. Ask yourself this: How much of her do you really know? How much of her past deeds do you really know? Be careful who you can trust. This is just a suggestion, that you should take very seriously.  
  
    _I read it once, then twice. I was shocked, enraged, and fearful. Suddenly I realized that it wasn't a robber who broke in, but maybe someone with more sinister intentions. But who? I worked at two places, but the note mentioned Cinnamon, so maybe it was Freddy's? Plus, I did go into the supply closet once, but that was about a month ago. Why would they care now? But what really struck me was the part about Cinnamon. How dare they say that about her! Cinnamon was a great woman! And Willow would be just fine! She and Cinnamon have been together for so long! Cinnamon wouldn't possibly hurt Willow! They had a bumpy start, but the road was smooth after that.  
  
    I taped the note up onto my wall. Just as a reminder to be careful where I step at Freddy's, and not just metaphorically. After that, I closed my window and resumed cleaning up my room and forgot about the note. And I made sure to put my key somewhere hidden not in my room.  
  
  
  
  
    "See ya girls!"  
  
    "See ya!" The girls chirped back. Usually, they'd be asleep by now, considering how late at night it was. But they said they wanted to discuss some lady stuff, and wanted the man out of the house before they started their convo. So they just waited until I left for work.  
  
    Shivering, I held my jacket tightly onto me as I hurried down the street. Each night was getting colder, and each day mother nature was getting stronger. It took me a while, but I eventually got to work on time. Without getting killed on my daily mad dash to the office.  
  
    Seating myself into the creaky chair that I had gotten used to, along with the horrid smell of pizza, I got down to work. Most everyone was away from me. The pink and white thing they called Mangle was hanging around me. I closed the door, but since it seemed pretty comfortable where it was, I had a feeling it wasn't gonna leave anytime soon. I did another sweep through before I set the tablet down.  
  
    My eyes met the cupcake's, and we just sat there in silence for a moment or two. I had come to know the pastry with eyes, which I would never get over why it even has eyes and the fan. Then the cupcake wobbled. I just stared at it, which resulted in an eye roll. It's been giving me that a lot lately, which I couldn't figure out why. Maybe it was 'cause I never responded to it.  
  
    Picking the tablet back up, I checked the cameras again. The door lights revealed that Mangle hadn't moved an inch. And that Toy Chica was outside.  _Slam!_ There went the other door. Now power was gonna start draining again. As my mind was on the topic of losing power fast, I had a sudden flashback of when Toy Bonnie nearly got me. Have to give it to him for using such a good strategy, though.  
  
    He, Toy Bonnie, stood outside one door. And I guess he must've convinced him or something because Toy Freddy stood outside the other. And Toy Chica kept all the other androids from getting near. If Chica came near, Toy Chica would go into the kitchen, and Chica would immediately go to shoo her out. If Freddy came near, Toy Chica would start making a mess somewhere, and Freddy'd go clean it up. If Bonnie tried to come near, she'd mess with his guitar. If they all tried coming at once, Toy Chica would do all at almost the same time. Who knew bird androids could be so fast?  
  
    But because of that crazy great strategy, I lost power like crazy. So when it was completely drained, the doors opened automatically. I couldn't run anywhere, so I had just ducked under the desk. What happened after that, I'm not willing to talk about. Or think about.  
  
    I picked up the tablet, trying to shake off that dreadful memory. I was really glad it was over. Doing another check, I saw that none were near. Except for Mangle and the freaky bird. I cast a glance over at the pink treat and almost immediately regretted it. It had this weird, knowing look in its eyes. It also looked very disappointed in me.  
  
    "Um, what's with that look?" I asked it. It just continued with that look. Then it wobbled until it fell over. I felt a sense of deja vu when it began to roll over to the door.  
  
    "Oh no, you don't. I'm not letting you go out when there are two androids outside those doors, who can slip in as soon as I open the door for you," I warned, as I got out of the chair and picked up the cupcake. It gave me a really, really irritated look. My guess that wherever it wanted to go, it couldn't wait.  
  
    Going back to the desk, I placed the cupcake back onto it as I sat back down.  
  
    "So, cupcake-" I cut myself off, realizing something. "Ya know what, I can't keep calling you cupcake. That's too long. How about... Pinkie? Don't like that? Sorry. Gonna have to bear with it, Pinkie."  
  
    The cupcake- sorry, PINKIE, glared like there was no tomorrow. The fan whirred, with the sound of snickering mixed into it. I shrugged in sympathy. I honestly didn't know what else to call it, at the time anyway. I decided to ignore Pinkie and let it cool down as I checked the cameras. The androids migrated a bit, and thankfully, Mangle left the door. Now all I had to was wait for Toy Chica to go away.  
  
    It was kinda obvious she wasn't moving anytime soon, but I still kept a good watch in case she did. In fact, that was pretty much what did for most of the night. She left at one point, and it was a good time, too, because I had nearly been completely drained of power by then.  
  
    All Pinkie did was glare at me while I did my job. Made perfect sense, since he seemed to hate the nickname. The fan, on the other hand, appeared to be fairly amused, because every now and then I'd hear the sound of snickering shortly after it started whirring.  
  
    The rest of the night wasn't too bad, because after Toy Chica left, I was able to breathe a bit easier. The androids kept their distance for most of the night. Except for the occasional visit from Chica. Other than that, I was able to get through the night with great hopes I was gonna survive another night. Until the lights turned off. And the doors didn't close. And I became aware I ran out of power.  
  
    As soon as that realization hit me, I did the most sensible, smartest, quickest thing anyone who was in my situation would do. I ducked under the desk without a second thought. I think I heard Pinkie snicker when I did that. So I grabbed it. Hey, if I were to die that very night, I wanted a witness! Someone to prove my death wasn't an accident!  
  
    It didn't take long for me to hear the sound of footsteps slowly nearing the office.  _This is it,_ I thought to myself,  _The end has come. I hope I have enough savings for Willow to survive on her own. I wonder how she'll feel, with me being gone...  
  
    _My thoughts were interrupted by my terror when I realized the feet who were making the sound of footsteps had stopped. There seemed to be a pause, before the sound of footsteps began to fade, while a new pair made its way over. I held my breath as the sound came to a halt right in front of the desk. I held the pastry tightly in my hands, and then I got an idea. I silently moved the cupcake to my right hand and pulled my arm back.  
  
    "Mike?"  
  
    "HYAH!" I acted on immediate instinct and tossed Pinkie onto the one who had invaded the office. I hastily escaped from the desk, to quickly discover that my target had turned out to be Jeremy.  
  
    "OW! Mike?! Geez, what was that for?!" Jeremy stood in front of me, clutching his forehead. "Ow, ow, ow! My head... ow."  
  
    "Sorry," I shrugged, picking up Pinkie, who was rolling around on the floor. "When the power went out, I immediately assumed you were an android," I replied, giving him a sympathetic look.  
  
    "Gah, never mind. Just, next time, look before you throw, okay?!"  
  
    "Okay," I responded, as Jeremy rubbed where I had hit him. "Need an ice pack?"  
  
    "I'll live, thank you," He muttered, "And put that thing back. Management doesn't like it when we mess with their stuff."  
  
    "Since when was Pinkie management's property?" I questioned aloud, as I placed it back onto the desk.  
  
    "I dunno... you named that thing?"  
  
    "Jeremy, I've been talking to it since I first started working here," I answered as we left the office. I had been doing this for a solid month now, but it was still hard to get used to going from the isolation of the office to the bustling halls. Sure, it felt more routinely each day, but the transition was still difficult to get used to.  
  
    Suddenly, Jeremy started to pick up the pace, and I had to try and keep up with him. It was troublesome, considering he could go further than I in one stride.  
  
    "Hey! Slow down! My legs are shorter than yours, you know!" Jeremy didn't say anything right away, but he did slow down.  
  
    "Sorry," He finally said after a long pause, "Scott's here, and we're gonna introduce him to you."  
  
     _Scott?_ I mused silently to myself,  _Oh, Scott! He was... that dude who got into an accident when I got hired... huh.  
  
    _We quickly reached the main area, and we walked over to our table. Indigo and Fritz were already there, and there was a man with long brown hair who I assumed was Scott. There wasn't much to him, aside from the fact that he looked so average, it was scary.  
  
    "Mike, this is Scott. Scott here has been working longer than all of us here at this pizzeria. He's sort of our role model and an example of a good guard with exceptionally good luck. To be able to survive as long as he has takes more than skill, it takes great luck," Jeremy said to me, and I just nodded. Then he turned to Scott and raised his voice.  
  
    "Scott! This here is Mike! He was recruited last month! As you can see, he is better than the other new recruits! He is clearly still alive! With your guidance, he may be able to survive as long as you!" Jeremy yelled to Scott. Scott smiled, then began yelling too.  
  
    "Eh?! Really?! That's great! Nice to meet you, Pike!" Scott yelled at me. Indigo suddenly cut in.  
  
    "As you can see, Mike, Scott clearly has trouble hearing. Try not to get too irritated with it, and be patient when he gets something wrong. He wasn't like this before, though," Indigo muttered, but regardless, Scott wouldn't have heard him anyway. I then turned my attention to Scott.  
  
    "Er, nice to meet you, Scott!" I spoke rather loud, but he didn't seem to hear. I held my hand out to him, trying to convey my greeting to him in a different way. He understood the gesture, thankfully. He took a hold of my hand, and we briefly shook. I noticed that though he looked pretty average, he had one firm grip.  
  
    Scott looked around absentmindedly. Indigo approached me.  
  
    "You can go on home if you'd like Mike. Scott said he wanted to stay, just to re-explore the area," Indigo turns to look at Scott, who was curiously watching the performing androids onstage, "It's kind of useless, though, because he practically knows the place like the back of his hand."  
  
    I chose to go on home and bid goodbye to my co-workers. Leaving, I let my mind aimlessly wander. Which was how I remembered the mysterious note back at home. I contemplated it. It said that they were closer than I knew, they mentioned the supply closet and Cinnamon. I already came to the conclusion that it was someone at Freddy's. Then a thought dawned onto me. They were closer than I knew, so maybe it was one of my co-workers? I immediately started to deduce who it wasn't. Definitely not Indigo; he was a great guy, plus he got along smoothly with Cinnamon. The note sender didn't seem to like Cinnamon. So, it definitely wasn't Indigo. Jeremy wasn't it either. He was jumpy and paranoid, but he was a nice guy otherwise. I could easily cross off Scott. He just got out of the hospital and seemed to be in a slightly confused. Not to mention, we literally just met minutes ago. So that left... Fritz. It made sense because he did seem to be pretty sketchy, he hardly ever speaks, and he was pretty distant.  
  
    I made a mental note to start being more on my toes when around that guy, as I approached my apartment complex. I ran into Henry on the way; he was just checking that everything was fine. Pretty clear that Willow had squealed everything to Henry, just the way she always did. It sort of bothered me, that lack of privacy, so I reminded myself to draw a boundary line with Willow in case she considers poking through my stuff.  
  
    Upon entering my apartment, I found Cinnamon and Willow laughing over a book. At first, I thought it was a joke book. I was about to go over and see what joke was so funny until I saw it was my elementary yearbook. It seemed that I was too late because Willow clearly poked through my stuff.  
  
    "Girls! Willow, actually! What have I told you about  _personal space_ , and staying out of each other's rooms?  _I_ stay out of  _your_ room, and  _you_ stay out of  _my_ room. Understand?" I hissed, even though I was very sure that it was just going in through one ear and out the other. And I was right.  
  
    "Uh huh. Hey, you didn't tell me that you had braces back then!" Willow giggled, accompanied with Cinnamon.  
  
    "Gimmie that!" I yelled, snatching the yearbook out of their hands. They both groaned in disappointment.  
  
    "But Mike! We're bored!"  
  
    "Go play with the cats!"  
  
    "Er, about them..." Willow replied sheepishly, as I looked at her with suspicion in my eyes. "Well, it's not that we can't find the- I mean, We FOUND them, but... it's just... well, um... Mike... do you have one-hundred fifty dollars?"  
  
    "WHAT?!"


	11. Mechanical Heart, Real Love. -11-

    "Ugh. I am SO not going to take money out of my savings just to get your cats out of the pound."  
  
    "Uh-huh. Did you guys miss me? 'Cause I missed you!" Willow cooed, completely ignoring me. I groaned in annoyance. Cinnamon smiled sympathetically. We were walking home, coming back from the pound. Willow was ahead, prancing around with her cats.  
      
    "She has a job! She could've paid the fine herself, but instead, she wants me to pay! What's so special about a scratching post, anyway?! Isn't the dining table good enough for the cats?" I complained because I was quite frankly annoyed at her behavior. She was saving up for a scratching post to get her cats, and the one she wanted to buy looked exactly like something I could fashion out of cardboard boxes and some mothballs.  
  
    "Oh, Mike. You just don't get it because you aren't a kitty person like Willow is. Scratching posts have more meaning to cats and cat people than those who don't understand, like you," Cinnamon explained, and the way she put it did make more sense. As I processed what she said, Cinnamon continued on.  
  
    "I'm sure she gets the point, Mike. Besides, if this were to happen again, which I'm sure it won't, I'll tap into my savings. Okay?" Cinnamon gently assured me, with a soft smile. I sighed.  
  
    "She needs to grow up, Cinnamon. She has a job, but that doesn't change the fact that she's irresponsible. If this were to happen again, she's the one who has to pay for it. Willow is perfectly capable of taking of herself and leaving the nest, but the only obstacle that's preventing her from doing so is her irresponsibility." I replied as Cinnamon shook her head, disagreeing.  
  
    "That's where you come in, Mike. You know Willow looks up to you. She and I may be close, but not as close as she is with you. You're like an older brother to her, like a father she's never had. You protected her when she needed it most, now she expects to you to catch her when she falls," Cinnamon reasoned with me, which I admit was a pretty good point.  
  
    "It's just, I can't- I won't always be there. She needs to learn how to be independent. You get what I'm saying, right?" I asked Cinnamon, who simply gave a good-humored chuckle.  
  
    "I know what you mean, Mike. But Willow, she's still a little girl at heart. Give her time, and she'll be able to walk out into the world all on her own. Just give her some time, Mike. Don't rush her. She'll be able to carve out her own life without your support, but you just need to patient with her," Cinnamon replied, with a soft smile on her lips. I sighed at that.  
  
    "I know that, Cinnamon. It's just, well, it's really easy for you to say because you're not the one who has to run after her because she wants to see what it feels like to jump off a cliff. I mean, I have to thank you for helping bring out the woman in her, but it's not fully out, therefore she is not fully mature. And because of that, she isn't ready to face the outside world, and soon I'm gonna have to deal with her constant nagging to get her own apartment room," I groaned out, because it really was hard to take care of Willow, especially ever since Henry figured out how to bypass the block that I put onto his number, because I was tired of receiving constant messages from Henry that were for Willow.  
      
    Cinnamon, with a sympathetic smile and a slight shrug, responded.  
  
    "Mike, the rain will pour before the rainbow comes out. But, sometimes the rain turns to hail, and the rainbow is short and faint. So, if you need any help during the downpour, don't hesitate to call me, and I'll rush as soon as I can with an umbrella to protect you. Okay?" Cinnamon answered, with a soft smile still lingering on her lips. I just shrugged, because I wasn't sure what to say in response. But I understood her just fine, and as much as I didn't want to accept it, there really were times when the rain hailed, and the rainbow was barely visible.  
  
    "Hey! Willow! Wait up!" Cinnamon's voice cut through my thoughts, and I raised my eyes to see that Cinnamon and I had slowed down, and now Willow was hardly even in sight. I picked up the pace, as Cinnamon started to chase Willow in circles around a light pole up ahead.  
  
  
  
  
    "Do you know how to bake cakes, Mike?" Willow asked me, as Cinnamon tried to round up all the cats, because, ironically, it was about to rain. And for some reason, the cats were freaking out about it and were all over the place.  
  
    "Not really. Why?" I asked Willow, who was skipping in circles around the kitchen.  
  
    "It's just, I saw this recipe for a chocolate cake, and it looked so good! It had chocolate, M&Ms, chocolate, Kit-Kat, chocolate, chocolate sprinkles, Snickers, uhhh, and chocolate!" I rolled my eyes at that. Recently, Willow has had this strange obsession over chocolate. It was weird. Cinnamon had said it was natural, and that Willow was just being herself. Cinnamon seemed to know Willow better than I did, so I just took her word for it.  
  
    "We are not baking a chocolate cake, Willow. If you want chocolate, just eat your Halloween candy from a few months ago. Those things don't expire until three more months," I told her, and in response, she pouted but went for the candy anyway. Cinnamon, who had shockingly rounded up all the kitties, placed them in Willow's room before she made her way over to me.  
  
    "Hey, Mike! Surprised she actually took that for an answer," Cinnamon chirped, as she watched Willow attack the candy, along with the wrappers flying everywhere. "Man, that girl is crazy, Do you see how fast she's eating all that chocolate? Man, do I envy her. I wish I could eat candy as fast as her. Man, oh man! Anyway, want me to help you prepare dinner?" Cinnamon asked, turning her attention back to me.  _Good old Cinnamon,_ I thought to myself,  _Her attention span is as short as ever, like always.  
  
   _"Sure," I shrugged, "Why not you chop the carrots, and I'll get the water boiling," I suggested, as Cinnamon immediately hopped off to the grab the carrots.   
  
    We had little distractions from Willow when cooking, except at one point Stacey got out and I had to chase her down the block. I returned to find Cinnamon chopping vegetables like she was when I left, and Willow was secretly dropping Hershey's bars into the water, which I caught her red-handed. Or brown-handed, because the chocolate was melting in her hands. We had to toss out that pot of water and boil a new one, and things went pretty smooth after that. When we all sat down at the dinner table to eat, we struck up lively conversations and laughter, and that was one of the rare times I felt like a perfectly normal guy, sitting down to eat with his make-shift family. Unfortunately, the sun sets even in paradise, and with time, things wouldn't be as nice soon.  
  
  
  
  
    "I'm warning you; stay out of my room! That is my sanctuary and the only place in this home that I can get privacy! And that goes for your cats too!" I hissed at Willow and her cats. She just rolled her eyes, and some of her cats yawned. Cinnamon had left hours ago, saying she had some unfinished business to deal with.  
  
    "Yeah, yeah, yeah! We get it, we get it! Sheesh! Now, hop off to work! You're gonna be late," Willow replied, as I narrowed my eyes in suspicion.  
  
    "Why do I get the feeling that you're gonna run straight to my room the moment I close the door behind me?" I muttered to myself, as Willow sat on the couch, watching me with an innocent expression. I gave her one last warning before I grabbed my jacket and left. As expected, I heard the patter of footsteps running off into the direction of my room even before the door was closed. I rolled my eyes at her behavior and decided to let it go just this once. With that, I went off, fighting the wind along the way.  
  
    The winter wind went through my thin jacket and chilled me to the bone, as I rushed to try and get to work without freezing to death. Tonight was supposed to be Indigo's shift, even though he had one yesterday. Today he said he had a fever and couldn't do his job without getting killed under his symptoms, and asked me to cover for him. Indigo was a good friend, so I agreed because I didn't want to let him down.  
  
    I spotted the building up ahead and hurried to get closer. Upon entering, I did my routinely mad dash to the office. Tonight I had the one with the vents, which was the one that I didn't usually work in. Running in, I checked the lights to make sure that it was safe out there. I let out a breath of relief when I saw the halls were empty. I sat down into my seat, which was creaky, old, and broken, just like the other one. The cupcake and fan weren't in this office, unfortunately. It was both good and bad. It was good because then I wouldn't distract myself talking to them. It was bad because then I would get paranoid and close the doors even when nothing was there.  
  
    Just looking at the vents made me nervous. Even though I had been in this office multiple times before, those vents still gave me the chills. They were very large, making it quite easy for an android to crawl in, something that has happened before. Whenever that happened, I wore the Freddy mask that was in the office. It wasn't there the first time I worked in there because someone misplaced it, apparently.  
  
    Picking up the tablet, I flicked through the cameras, constantly looking up to check the doors. I shut them a few times out of pure paranoia. I was able to locate most of the androids. Some, I just couldn't find, no matter how hard I looked. Which was why I became even more paranoid. What really worried me was when I couldn't find Toy Chica. Through trial and error, I learned that chicken was anything but a birdbrain.  
  
    I was able to find everyone else though, and surprisingly I even found Mangle. It took about an hour and a half before I finally spotted Chii. And when I did, all I could do was facepalm myself. She had been somewhere so obvious, that I failed to notice her presence. I don't know how I didn't get the hint when Chica had been supposedly glaring at the kitchen door. I am not going to say where she was specifically, because I want to keep what I have left of my pride intact.  
  
    Mangle came by a few times but left just as quick as it came. I had a visit from Balloon Boy a couple of times, so I had to wear that disgusting Freddy mask. Let me tell you now; it smells like rancid onions in there. I had to keep it on until one: Balloon Boy left, or two: Balloon Girl chased Balloon Boy out, which was usually the case. Other than Balloon Girl coming to chase away Balloon Boy, I didn't really get many visits from the other androids, but Blue always seemed to come near the doors. As soon as I would notice him, he'd disappear.  
  
  
  
  
    I honestly don't recall how much power I wasted. I kept slamming the doors down out of paranoia. And I when I opened them, I did so with such carelessness that I ended up slamming them back down because there would be an android standing right in front of them. When there was but half an hour left in my shift, I was anxious to get out of that tiny office. It wasn't because I was cramped, that was one of the reasons though, it was just because I was longing for another person, and I didn't care if I had to talk to or listen to them. At that point, I was ready to listen to Cinnamon's boring nattering about some useless topic for hours straight instead of sit through this awful, wretched, lonely silence.  
  
    As I waited for my shift to be over, the lights flickered. I blinked, shaking it off as something I imagined. The lights flickered again. I looked at the tablet. The screen was black. The screen was NEVER black. Then, the lights flickered again. On and off. On and off. On and off. It remained off. It took me a moment, but I realized that the androids had the advantage of open doors. I scrambled to put on the Freddy mask.  
  
    I wanted to scream and curse at the top of my lungs, but considering my current situation, I figured that wasn't such a wise idea. I carefully watched the vents and the doors.  _Shit,_ I thought,  _I must've drained the power. This is NOT good. Not good at all.  
  
   _It didn't take long before I heard the sound of slow, steady footsteps make its way to the office. This was definitely not the first time I had ran out of power, but all the other times it had happened near the end of my shift. Now? Now I had to survive for twenty minutes without getting killed. And this mask may fool the other androids, but I had a strong feeling that Freddy wasn't an idiot enough to fall for the mask. The footsteps got closer and louder. I closed my eyes, praying that it was anybody but Freddy himself. I counted to ten. As soon as I reached seven, I felt gloved fingers brush my skin as they reached into and latched onto the bottom of my mask. It was in that moment that I realized who it was and that I was done for.  
  
    I sat there, frozen, as the gloved fingers silently slipped the Freddy mask off of me. I slowly raised my eyes, dark blue meeting sapphire blue eyes. I had been in a slight state of shock ever since he came in, but when our eyes met, everything came crashing back to me. It all came back onto me.  _I was done for_.  
  
    I carefully watched Freddy. He didn't move. He just stood there, frozen, with my mask in one hand, and his other reaching out, inches from my face. There was only one thing running through my head at that moment.  _I'm gonna die. I better say my last words. They gotta be meaningful, and worth remembering._ And so, I spoke.  
  
    "Hi."


	12. Mechanical Heart, Real Love. -12-

    Freddy didn't say anything. Or do anything. He was completely motionless. His blue eyes bore deeply into mine, and it was seriously intimidating me. I didn't try to hide it, because there was really no point in doing so. I just sat there, hoping that maybe he'd go away. As if that was gonna happen, though.  
  
    Scared, I held my breath, afraid that any small movement might take Freddy out of his trance, and that he'd attack me. He had such an intense, calm, and neutral stare that I began to worry that he was looking into my head, going through my thoughts.  
  
    My eyes were beginning to sting, and I involuntarily blinked. Bad idea. As though Freddy really had been taken out of a trance, his hands began to move again. One set down the Freddy mask, and the other gently took hold of my chin, raising it so that I had no choice but to look directly at him. His free hand, which had been advancing towards me unnoticed, was now in front of my face. It slowly grabbed ahold of the side of my face. As he was doing so, I felt his grip on my chin tighten. With each passing second, it got harder to breathe.  
  
    I closed my eyes, expecting to be strangled to death or something. Or for Freddy to crush my chin. I felt his grip getting tighter, and when it seemed that I was done for, he stopped. Nervous, I opened my eyes. Freddy's attention seemed to be no longer on me. His gaze was focused on one of the doors. It was dark, plus Freddy was blocking most of my view, so I couldn't see much. Freddy clearly saw something though. His eyes narrowed for a moment, before returning back to normal, and he retracted his hands from me.  
  
    As I sat there, paralyzed by fear, I couldn't help but curiously look over at the door. I was careful not to turn to look, though. It was hard to see, because it was dark, and also because the door was barely in my vision. But from where I was, I thought I saw a blurry outline of someone standing there. I wasn't completely sure, but kinda sure. I mean, why else would Freddy leave? He was so close to killing me, anyway. Okay, he didn't technically leave, but he no longer was holding my face. That was a major upgrade.  
  
    Freddy no longer seemed to be focused on me. He was looking at whoever was at the door. At this point, I'm very sure that someone was there. Since no one was talking, it seemed that they were possibly having... a silent conversation? It didn't make much sense to me, but since their silent "talking" kept me alive, I was pretty darn thankful to whoever was there.  
  
    The sudden movement startled me a bit, as Freddy turned and made his way to the door the other person was standing in and exited. The other person didn't leave. I slightly turned my head to get a better view of this mystery person. I regretted it as soon as I did. The moment I saw a red glow, that person was no longer a mystery. Although it was still very dark, I had a strong feeling the rabbit android was watching me.   
  
    I don't know why, but I made direct eye contact with Bonnie. It was weird. Because as soon as our eyes met, nothing felt the same. It felt like they were pulling me in, those red eyes of his. They had a calm but intense glow. It was like I was surrounded by red, and all I could see was red. They had a supernatural, out of this world feeling. They weren't normal.  
  
    All I could think about and see were those eyes. And that kept going on until a voice interrupted my thoughts.  
  
    "...Mike. Mike! Mike! MIKE!" I jerked up, shocked. In front of me stood Jeremy, looking a bit concerned.  _When did he get here?_ I thought to myself,  _Isn't it too dangerous out there to get... here...? Hold on a second...  
  
    _"Jeremy?" I squeaked, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, "What time is it?" I opened my eyes, as Jeremy gave me a weird look.  
  
    "It's six... why?" Jeremy replied as I inhaled sharply. If it was six, then that must've meant that I had spent the entire night just sitting there, with both doors open, completely vulnerable. I wondered why any another android didn't waltz right in and kill me after Freddy left. Either way, I was not going to waste the power like that again, and I was  _definitely_ not going to let myself be so defenseless, no matter how shaken up I was. I was pretty sure that I was lucky no android came after Freddy left.  
  
  
  
  
    Today I had my day job to go to, and Willow wouldn't stop pestering me, causing me to be late for work. Annie seemed to take it okay and simply told me to get a move on. As I went to go get changed, Annie called out to me.  
  
    "Oh, and stop being late, Mike! It's not looking good on your record, ya know!" She hollered, before scurrying to the kitchen. I sighed tiredly to myself. Willow behaved herself most of the time, but recently she's been having weird outbursts. Outbursts I had to deal with, and nine times out of ten I ended up late to work because I had to calm her down. Cinnamon insisted that Willow was just going through some love stress and that it would pass over sooner or later.  
  
    I hurried around, trying to do my work as a proper employee, but I guess I was still fazed from that encounter with Freddy, because the entire shift I kept dropping stuff, tripping over others, and bumping into others. Annie wasn't having it, because she told me to get my act together, or I was fired. Yup, today  _really_ wasn't my day.  
  
    When I began getting ready for home, Annie stopped me to inform that what she said was my last warning, and she really was going to fire me if I kept it up. So I knew exactly what I was going to do when I arrived home! Write up my resignation letter. It was CLEAR that working a night job, a day job, and having an annoying roomie plus a trolling cousin was NOT gonna work out. It was very hard trying to balance out all of it, and by now I was just done. I chose not to resign from the pizzeria because they didn't care whether I was late or not, unlike my day job. And removing it from my busy schedule would give me more time to tend to personal stuff during the day. Besides, it wasn't like quitting would drastically change anything.  
  
    Making my way over to the dining table, I didn't get much written before Stacey started to meow for attention. At first, I just ignored her. When she went silent, I thought I had won. As it turned out, she was taking a moment to get the big guns. Unfortunately, I was unaware until I felt sharp little claws scratching my ankle.  
  
    "Ow! Stacey! No! Bad kitty!" I hissed in surprise and annoyance as I glared at the perpetrator, who simply yawned. I turned back to my resignation letter, and as soon as I did, the claws started back up.  
  
    "Okay okay! I get it!" I growled at Stacey, who mewed innocently. "Geez, Willow should've named you Claws! Speaking of, why don't you go and both- I mean,  _play_ with Willow!" Stacey perked up upon hearing her pal's name, and she quickly scampered off to the direction of Willow's room. I thought that would get rid of her, so I turned my attention back to the letter. About half a minute later, my leg was a scratching post again.   
  
    "Looks like there's no getting rid of you, is there?" I groaned, irritated. Getting up, I picked up Stacey and surveyed the damage. She had shredded some of the pants cloth at the ankle, but aside from that, it was all okay. Her claws hadn't really pierced the skin, so I figured I was fine.  
  
    Wondering why Stacey had decided to return, I inspected the house, looking to see if Willow had left a note somewhere. For some reason, she always placed them in weird places. I once asked her why, and she said it was so burglars wouldn't see them, and they wouldn't know the house was empty. As much as I appreciated how thoughtful she was, it did not make it any easier for ME to find them. It took me a while, but I eventually found two notes. One was on the ceiling, and the other was in... the back of the freezer. Sometimes, I wondered if I needed to take her to see a mental doctor. Like, who puts a note in the freezer?!  
  
    Anyway, the one in the freezer was from a week ago. As it turned out, she placed it in there while I was out getting GROCERIES. It was no surprise as to why I didn't see it when I got back. But back to the ceiling note. It was from Willow, as expected. Apparently, she was out at Cinnamon's place, and, thankfully, Henry walked with her. It said she had taken all her cats with her. Why was I not surprised? Then it said that she couldn't find Stacey when she left, and if I found her, she wanted me to be Stacey's play partner. I froze upon reading that last part. PLAY PARTNER?! I hardly ever spent time with Willow's cats, so how was I supposed to know what a cat play partner was supposed to do? I looked over at Stacey, who was now chewing on my security hat. I clearly recalled leaving it at the very back of my closet.  
  
    "How did you... nope, nope, I'm not dealing with you. NOPE!!!" And with that, I went to the sanctuary of my room. For the three hours, I ignored the sound of glass breaking and things crashing. And then I remembered my resignation letter. I ran down the hall to grab it, only to find a pile of shredded paper in its place. I was sure that this was my worst day ever. And it only got worse when Stacey grabbed ahold of my leg and refused to let go. I could only tolerate her for a few minutes before I decided to call Henry to tell him Willow needed to come home right away. But my luck just got worse, because I couldn't find my phone anywhere, and suspected that Willow took it with her. And I had a good feeling she took it  _so_ I couldn't call Henry.  
  
    "That little..." I growled to myself. Willow was really beginning to push my buttons, and my patience was dwindling with each passing second.  
  
  
  
  
    "Either she goes, or I go! I am TIRED of dealing with her, her cats, and her antics!" I yelled at Henry, who was trying to calm me down. But I personally was in no mood to be calm. As soon as Willow got home, she went straight to her room, and I didn't know what she was doing, until I popped in to check on her, and discovered that she was gluing pink glitter on all of my clothing. I was enraged, and to make things worse, while I was cooking, she grabbed all the food and insisted that she was storing rations in case of a zombie apocalypse. I didn't find it as funny as Henry did when I told him.  
  
    "Well, Henry?! It's either ME! Or HER!" I screeched, as Henry gave me a sympathetic look.  
  
    "I'm sure we can work something out. How about Willow room with me instead? For now, you need to relax, cuz!" Henry reasoned as I glared at him.  
  
    "Don't 'cuz' me! And, who's gonna babysit her when you're out at work?" I hissed, as Henry guiltily lowered his gaze. I had sent out my resignation letter, which my that I was completely free during the day. And Cinnamon had a day job at Freddy's, and none of Henry's friends were trustworthy enough to be left alone with a girl. Which left ME.  
  
    "Um, uh... why don't we... work something out tomorrow?! Yeah! Tomorrow! If you want, she can spend the night at my room tonight! Yeah! Tonight! And uh, you don't have a shift tonight! And Willow's cats can stay here too! How 'bout that, cuz?!" Henry desperately cried out in a rush, as I narrowed my eyes at him. I could argue with him all night, but since Henry wasn't used to staying up late like I was with my night shifts and Willow, I decided to give in for his sake.  
  
    "Fine," I grumbled, as I sharply turned around and went back to my apartment room, slamming the door behind me. Willow and her cats must've sensed my foul mood because they were quieter than mice for the rest of the night.   
  
  
  
  
    The next morning, I woke up in a much better mood than I was the night before. Since I was feeling so generous, I gave Henry a week to figure out a compromise before I made him choose between me and Willow. Speaking of, Willow was nowhere to be seen when I went to look for her. That being said, I found Stacey. Well, she found me. Stacey pounced me from behind, and apparently, she was on top of the fridge. I had and  _still_ have no idea how she got up there.  
  
    I looked around for Willow, but as it seemed, Stacey was the only one in the apartment with me. Which meant I had to deal with her. AGAIN. I was left with choices. One: just go and find something to do without Stacey, and risk letting Stacey do as she please. Two: Stay home with Stacey and let her play around until she tires herself out, even though she never gets tired. Three: Call Cinnamon or Henry, get ahold of Willow, and demand she gets her ass back here. I immediately eliminated the first choice, because there was no way in hell I was going to let Stacey destroy the apartment. Stacey is a lethal cat and can be easily be mistaken for a weapon, and she got an upgrade ever since she's learned how to sharpen her claws. Option two was very, very tiring for me. That cat had an endless supply of energy! I suspected she could frolic for a week without stopping for a moment of rest. Option three... was very tempting. I knew that Willow didn't have work today, which meant she was hanging at someone's place. It was more than likely Cinnamon's house. She's been frequently visiting, calling, and texting her.  
  
    After a bit considering and weighing the consequences of the two choices, I decided to go with the third option. Making a beeline, I went for my phone, but like yesterday, found it wasn't there. Irritated, I went off to Henry's apartment room, hoping he was home.  
  
    "Hey! Hey! Henry! Open up!" I yelled through the door, knocking a few times before taking a step back. It didn't take long before the door swung open, and a curious but alert Henry stood in the doorway.  
  
    "What's up, Mike? Something the matter?" Henry asked as he stepped aside, allowing me to enter.  
  
    "Relax. I just need to borrow your phone, Willow hopped off to Cinnamon's again," I replied, entering his place. Henry smiled in relief. Ever since he and Willow started dating, he got really tense and alert whenever I popped by his place. It was probably his concern for Willow, though.  
  
    "Catch!" I snapped out of my thoughts in time to see Henry's phone flying towards me.  
  
    "WOAH!" I cried out in surprise as I barely caught the phone. "Dude! Is it not common sense to not throw your own phone?!" I glared at Henry as I opened up the phone app. Henry just shrugged, grinning mischievously. It was quite clear that he did it on purpose. I dialed Cinnamon's number, then held the phone to my ear. Henry just watched, curious.  
  
    "... Cinnamon? No, it's me, Cinnamon. Mike! Yeah... yeah... yes I'm sure... no, I'm not Henry! No I-... you didn't even... never mind! I need to talk to Willow, okay?! Yes! No, I'm not! Finally! Willow, I need you... what? ... What?! WHAT?! No... no I'm not mad... look I-... never mind, just get back here," I muttered into the phone. I silently handed the phone back to Henry as I made my way back to my place. As I waited for Willow to come back, I quietly processed what she told me. It was kinda hard to think though because Stacey kept hopping on and off of me. It took all my willpower not to throw that little furball out the window because what Willow told me over the phone could and would impact both Stacey and I.


	13. Mechanical Heart, Real Love. -13-

    "Are all the boxes packed?"  
  
    "Yup!"  
  
    "Do you have everything?"  
  
    "Yup!"  
  
    "Are you sure?"  
  
    "Mike, relax! Henry's gonna be with me, and Cinnamon will check in on me for the first few days. There's nothing, I repeat, NOTHING to be worried about!" Willow chirped, as I gazed at her wearily. It was hard to believe that just yesterday I called Willow only to find out she was planning to move. With Cinnamon's help, she bought a house. The paperwork had already been taken care of, so all that there was left to do was move out. When I asked Willow why, she said it was because she wanted her independence, but mainly because she wanted to be able to sleep without another man in the same living area as her, which made sense. Willow and Henry were dating, but Willow lived in my apartment room because the cats were a bit too much for Henry.  
  
    I watched as Willow ran back and forth with her cats, as Henry and Cinnamon began to move the boxes. Willow was quick to pitch in and help. Willow had said that there was enough room in the house she purchased to let the cats loose without constantly running into Henry. Henry could deal with a few cats, but Willow's amount was a bit too much for him and his allergies, but he was willing to put up with it if it were for Willow.  
  
    My train of thought was cut off by the sound of something shattering. I closed my eyes, mentally counted to ten, that went off to round up Willow's cats.  
  
  
  
  
    "Hey? You 'kay Mike?" I looked up. I had come to the pizzeria to meet up with Indigo and the others after Scott's shift let out. We talked for a while, then left. Fritz and I were walking together because Fritz missed the bus.  
  
    "Eh. I'm fine, I guess," I replied, as I rubbed my eyes. Fritz looked up from his phone and gave me a funny look.  
  
    "You guess? Want to try again Mike?" Fritz replied as I sighed loudly.  
  
    "Well, I've got things going on back at home, and- I don't know, everything- everything's been happening too fast. First, that weird incident with my shift, then I quit my other job, now, my roommate's moving out, I- I just don't know. This- this feels like a board game. Everyone I know is moving forward, and me? I'm just stuck here. No matter what I do, I'm stuck. My cousin's considering proposing, my roommate bought a new house, and Indigo says he has things planned out and he's just waiting to put them into play. And I'm just stuck here. I don't know," I quietly answered, as Fritz draped an arm around my shoulders.  
  
    "It's alright Mike. I know how you feel," I curiously peered over at Fritz, and for once, he actually had emotion on his face. He had a look of regret with a hint of longing. What he said was something along these lines, "You're missing that feeling of accomplishment, of doing something right for once. I felt that too before. It hurts. It really does. But... there's a sort of bright side. I mean, after that feeling is over, you just sort of feel empty, like you reached out to grab something but failed. You'll feel empty for a short bit, then after that passes away, you get this weird feeling. Like, nothing can hurt you. You'll feel as though you're in your own complete own world, and in your world, what you say goes. It doesn't matter what others think, because all that matters is what you believe matters. So for now, you're just gonna have to grit your teeth and let yourself get engulfed in the hard truth that you're a nothing. Then the feeling of emptiness will come and go, and then you'll find yourself, king of your own universe, calling all the shots."  
  
    I looked up at Fritz admirably as he pushed me away and told me to keep that in mind. With that, he left me behind as he began to walk away. I didn't say anything as I went back to my place. I didn't know what to say. I was still trying to wrap my head around what he said.  
  
    When I returned home, the apartment was dead silent, and for the first time ever, there was a note on the coat hanger. It wasn't in a weird place like behind my bed or under the sofa. It was in plain sight, for the very first time, the note was somewhere visible. Curious, I took the note.  
  
     _Hi Mike! You're probably wondering why my note is somewhere so visible, and normal. That's because this is the last note you'll ever get from me. So I hope you enjoyed searching for all my past ones. I don't know how to put this lightly, Mike, but I decided to move out while you were gone. I didn't want to stay for you, because if I did, I'd have to say goodbye, and I hate goodbyes. I really appreciate everything you did for me and the cats, I really don't know where I'd be without you. So, thank you. I always make you mad, and I know that, so I'm sorry about that. And for all the times my cats destroyed the apartment. Oh! And thank you for introducing me to Cinnamon. She and I didn't get along at first, but now she's my best friend! You are too though! Considering that we're pretty close in age, I know this will sound weird, but I always considered you as a protective father. You looked out for me when I was blind to the reality of the world, and you always caught me whenever I did something stupid. I've become very smart and way more mature than I used to be because of you. I know that I am a nuisance a lot of the time, and I don't want to burden you anymore, so I've moved out. Now that I am gone, Henry will look after me. I am trying my best not to be a complete idiot, though. I just wanted to let you know that I really, really, REALLY love you, Mike. I appreciate everything you've done for me, and for being able to tolerate me and my cats. I'm gonna miss you, so I hope you come to visit me! And Henry!  
  
    With oodles of love, Willow  
  
    _I closed my eyes after reading this. Silence enveloped the room. Bringing the note to my chest, I wiped a few stray tears. As my mind began to recall my memories with her, I realized that I had only spent a couple of months with Willow. But those couple of months had felt like a couple of years.  
  
    Opening my eyes, I noticed that the apartment was mostly empty. Then it hit me. Most of the stuff was Willow's. Most of my stuff was in my room. As I scanned over the barren apartment, something caught my eye. It was that damned sofa. Willow had left the sofa behind. I walked towards it. The cat's scratches were all over it, and the big patches I sewed on to cover it were there too. It looked untouched. As I ran my hand over the sofa, I put the note down, turning it over so I wouldn't see Willow's message. When I did so, I saw another message on the other side. I picked the note back up.  
  
     _Haha, okay, so maybe I lied when I said that it was gonna be the last note. Wait; does this count as a second a note? I'm not sure. But anyway, if you didn't notice, I left the sofa behind. It's not that I don't want it, it's just that I felt since I'm taking all my stuff with me, I should at least leave you a reminder of back when the cats and I stayed at your place. Hope you don't mind.  
  
    Willow  
      
    PS: I decided to leave you something else, something just for you. I'm gonna see if you can find it. Since I know you're gonna want one, here's your hint: Why was the cat sitting on the computer? To keep an eye on the mouse!  
  
    _A smile tugged at my lips as I read the joke. It was just like Willow to use a cat joke. A computer seemed to be the hint, or the mouse, or maybe both. But I didn't feel like searching to see what the hint meant. I just felt like sitting down and staying there. So I sat on the sofa, and I let my mind wander to all the times I spent with Willow on this sofa. We used to laugh here, I used to push her cats off because they kept scratching the cushions, we used to sit here and look at the newspaper together, until one of the cats ran off with it, and all that'd be left were shreds.  
  
     _Stop that!_ I thought to myself,  _You're acting like she just died! Pull yourself together! You can visit her in her new home!_ My thoughts sort of paused at that instance. Her new home. Just thinking those words felt strange. I wondered if this was what it felt like to be a parent or something. I quickly shook my head, trying to get those thoughts out of my head. I didn't want to think about Willow. Hell, I didn't want to think about anything.  
  
    Tossing the note aside, I laid down onto the couch. Before I could start snoozing, my phone dinged. Fumbling around, I tried to grab my phone since it sounded like it came from somewhere on the floor. Fumbling turned out to be a mistake, because I reached too far out and ended up falling off the sofa.  
  
    "Ungh! Stupid sofa," I muttered as I got up, glaring at the sofa. It reminded me of the times that Willow would playfully push me off the sofa whenever I was ignoring her. I angrily punched the sofa to show it how I felt. I probably looked pretty stupid doing so.  
  
    My phone dinged again, completely distracting me from the sofa. After a bit of searching, I finally found my phone; it had been beneath the sofa. After some difficulties, I eventually snatched my phone from under there. There were two messages from Scott. The first one was asking if anyone could cover for him. The second was saying that the others who didn't have a shift couldn't cover, and was asking if I could cover. Since I had nothing better to do other than just sulk around about my recent loss, I let Scott know I could cover. He was pretty happy, which sort of made me feel a bit better. But not by much.  
  
  
  
  
    "Hey! I see you guys are back," I said as I sat down in the office chair. It creaked loudly when I did. I swore that chair was gonna break one these days. And with my luck, it was probably gonna break while I was sitting on it. The cupcake and fan watched me. I just stared back. I think we were having a staring contest, but I had to break it by checking the tablet.  
  
    I couldn't locate a one or two of the androids, but after checking the door lights, I was very relieved to see that they were not anywhere near. After all the time I had spent working here, I learned that if you can't find some androids, and they're not outside your door, then they aren't too much of a threat to you.  
  
    "Ah, we were having a staring contest, right?" I asked the cupcake. It simply blinked. I wouldn't mind having one with the fan, but hey, it has no eyes. Gotta give the cupcake credit for having a pair of eyes. Looking back at the cupcake, we locked eyes. It didn't last too long, though, because I was never any good at staring contests anyway.  
  
    "Alright, you win. Hey, didn't I come up with a name for you? Let me think..." I smiled internally when I saw the cupcake look very alarmed, "Hmmm, what was it...? Oh yeah! It was PINKIE!" I snickered as the cup- PINKIE!- glared at me. I honestly didn't see what was wrong with naming it Pinkie! I mean, it's a cupcake! And it's pink! Okay, maybe it wasn't the most creative name I could've come up with, but I should at least get an A for effort. Pinkie clearly seemed to disagree with me.  
  
    I spent the rest of the night fretting over the cameras, closing and opening the doors, and teasing Pinkie over his name. The night was as normal as any night, well, if  _normal_ included being hunted down by killer androids. But I was used to it. As used to it as I could ever be. When I wasn't praying that the androids would leave the window, I sulked some more over Willow. I didn't know why I couldn't get over her. Maybe it was because I had gotten to used to her. Maybe it was because of her wacky personality. Had she been quieter and normal, I probably wouldn't have been as upset if she moved. But the lack of noise and cats left a huge, empty void inside me.  
  
    Pinkie didn't seem like it could care any less, and I think it was just glad that I wasn't poking fun at its name. The fan whirred, blowing cold air onto my face every time I looked at it, so I wasn't as sure to what it was thinking. Or was trying to say. All I know is that it was annoying, so I tried to avoid looking at it.  
  
    I sighed again. It seemed Willow could irritate me everywhere I went, even to at work, because she kept popping up in my thoughts. She was like one of those annoying pop-ups; you X out of it, and it reappears. X out; reappears, the cycle continuing endlessly. I was starting to get more agitated than sad as she kept popping up.  
  
     _Shit! Why can't you just leave me alone?!_  I thought to myself. The cupcake gave me a weird look, and the fan turned from the cupcake to me. I just looked at them, confused. Then I realized I said that out loud.  
  
    "Um, sorry. I wasn't talking about you guys. Just a slip of the tongue," I finally said after a couple of seconds of awkward silence. The fan turned back to the cupcake, and the cupcake seemed to be okay too. After that, the night went pretty smoothly. Well, when I let my guard down talking to those two at one point, Chica nearly got in. But the night was okay after that!  
  
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    "... And then a few days later, when I finally got over Willow, your father approached me, it was pretty awkward, though, and asked me out on a date. It took a couple more dates before we actually became a couple, and had you!" Mike finished, as he tried to recall what couples did that lead to marriage.  
  
    Ronnie looked at his papa wearily. It was quite obvious that he slightly doubted him. He narrowed his eyes, trying to see if he was lying, though he didn't how to tell whether he was lying or not. After about half a minute of scrutinizing, Ronnie gave up. Then he remembered something and decided to see if his papa was really lying.  
  
    "Sooooo... if that's what happened, then at what point did you turn android? 'Cause you were originally human!" Ronnie declared, smirking triumphantly. Mike raised a brow, before answering.  
  
    "Well, your father and I decided that it would be troublesome if one of us was human, and the other was android. With that sort of difference, it would've been harder for us to spend time together, and with that lack of interaction, we probably wouldn't even have had the chance to have you. So after some discussing, we finally agreed on making me an android so we could be together happily," Mike replied, and this time it was his turn to smirk. Ronnie opened his mouth, then closed it, then it opened it again, then closed it again. It all sounded so solid, Ronnie couldn't find any way to not believe it. He mentally shrugged, because his papa was a good man, so he must've been telling the truth.  
  
    Hopping off his seat, Ronnie said bye to his papa, before hopping off to find one of his friends. Mike let out a sigh of relief after he left. Honestly, he himself didn't believe the lies he had said to Ronnie. They just sounded so... fake. Ronnie had the maturity of a child, so Mike felt that it wouldn't be right to have told him the truth. Later, maybe. But now? No.  
  
    Mike closed his eyes, as he reminisced what really happened. Henry had chosen to move in with his girlfriend and proposed not long after. Cinnamon told Mike that Willow was nothing but a mess when that happened. A happy mess, that is. Cinnamon quit her job at Freddy's a little while before the proposal, saying she had fun and wanted to go see who else could she annoy. She was weird. After Willow's marriage, Mike never saw her again.   
  
    When Mike changed to an android, the other guards didn't take Mike's transformation too well. They were pretty shocked, and every time Fritz opened his mouth he would say something that would upset Mike. Being an android took some getting used to. And as for him  _becoming_ android, it isn't something he wants to remember. At first, he did forget. But when it came back to him, he was both happy and upset. Happy the killer was caught, upset that he remembered. And then there was Bonnie. Him and Bonnie It took him and Bonnie a while to actually open up, though. When they finally did, their relationship had many huge bumps to overcome before they finally got to where they are now. In the beginning, Mike was very shocked to accept the fact that he was dating a killer android. Over time, that feeling numbed but still remained.  
  
    Mike opened his eyes to hear someone yelling at someone else. Judging from the voice, it was Fi. Fi was the desk fan. It was android, as was the cupcake apparently, and Mike didn't even bother to ask how. He didn't want to know either. Fi was yelling, and it was most likely Carl. Carl was the cupcake, and he was always doing something to get Fi annoyed. Mike and Carl weren't on the best terms, mainly because Mike sometimes still called him Pinkie just to get on his nerves.  
  
    Stretching his stiff limbs, Mike decided to go and chew a certain rabbit out for sending their son to him when he was very tired from the extra busy day. Unlike Bonnie, even after all this time, Mike still had that weird feeling of adjustment. That new feeling of working here was still faintly there, so Mike got tired out more easily than the others because he still had the "I'm not used to this yet" feeling. It was really annoying and bothersome. Looking around, Mike prepared himself to search for Bonnie, because he knew by now that Bonnie would've run off somewhere to avoid Mike.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey now! I know it says this is the last chapter, and in which, it is. Now, before you start flipping me off for the horrible ending, let me explain myself. Ronnie is but a young child of around, eleven or twelvish. And if Mike had told him the real ending of his life from human to android, Ronnie would be scarred for life. Since Mike is a good parent, he doesn't want that. That's why he faked the end. As it says, this is a part of a series. I will be starting the new series, but it might take a while since it's always harder to start from scratch than when you have something to build on. Just be patient, guys. Thank you. :)


End file.
